Services Account for Most of the Rise in Malaysia’s Economic Census Count

Malaysia counted about 1.33 million active establishments in its latest economic census, up from about 1.09 million for 2022. Services accounted for nearly nine out of every 10 active establishments in the preliminary results and for most of the increase between the two counts.

The Department of Statistics Malaysia's Nov. 2 release said fieldwork ran from Jan. 5 to Oct. 31. The census took place in 2026, but the activities it measures are for 2025. Of roughly 1.34 million establishments enumerated, the department classified 99.3 percent as active. A follow-up exercise runs through Nov. 20 to check that eligible establishments were included.

Where the count rose

The department's sector table puts the number of service establishments at about 1.17 million for 2025, up from about 952,000 for 2022. The increase of roughly 215,000 accounts for about 89 percent of the net rise across all five sectors, based on the published figures. Services accounted for 87.5 percent of the active establishments in the latest count.

Wholesale and retail trade made up 39.5 percent of service establishments. Food and beverage services accounted for 14.2 percent of that sector, and personal services and other activities made up 12.4 percent. These are shares of the service sector count. The percentages do not measure each industry's share of sales or the number of workers it employs.

The department's table puts manufacturing at about 61,000 establishments, up from 54,500, and agriculture at about 18,300, up from 13,000. The mining and quarrying count declined from about 1,400 to about 1,100. Construction accounted for about 6.5 percent of the total, the second-largest share after services. The department's table and the narrative give slightly different rounded construction totals, so that sector's share is the more consistent figure in the release.

What the early figures can tell readers

An establishment count describes the number of operating units captured by the census. It is different from a count of company registrations, and the difference between two census totals cannot be read as the number of businesses launched in the intervening years. Openings, closures and changes in coverage can all affect counts. The department described the results as preliminary and is conducting its follow-up before publishing the full results.

Nor does the dominance of services by number of establishments establish that services account for the same share of output. A retail outlet and a large factory can each count as one establishment even though they have very different levels of investment, employment and production. The establishment count is a way to compare the distribution of operating units. Questions about how much they produce or how many people they employ require separate measures.

Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Johor together had 643,355 active establishments, or 48.3 percent of the national total. That concentration describes the latest snapshot. The release does not say how much of the increase since 2022 came from those three places. The count also extends beyond businesses with permanent storefronts. DOSM reported 93,597 informal establishments in its coverage, which includes activities such as street vending and mobile businesses. It separately reported 71,101 holiday home units. The two figures have different units and should not be added together as a single count of informal businesses.

The Economic Census portal is the department's dedicated site for the exercise. The results announced so far offer a national snapshot by sector. DOSM plans to publish detailed results in April 2027. Those figures will be needed to tell where the additional establishments were located and how the change varies by type of business. Until then, the clearest result is that the national count grew, and that services contributed most of the rise.