This article details the list of the most populous settlements in
Malaysia. Malaysia designates all populated regions into three categories: a district, municipality, or city. While district boundaries are limited to individual state-drawn district boundaries, some municipalities and cities are made up of several smaller component districts whose elevated status forms a local government. Thus, this list does not include component districts and only includes overall administrative localities defined by their respective local governments.
This table lists all cities, municipalities and districts in Malaysia whose population exceeds 150,000 people, according to statistics published in the
2020 Malaysian census by the
Malaysian Department of Statistics (DOSM). There are 64 populated regions in Malaysia whose population exceeds 150,000 people. All 13 states and the
Federal Territories have at least one city, municipality or district whose population exceeded 150,000 people.
This table displays:
The settlement rank by population as of 2020, as estimated by the DOSM;
The population of Peninsular Malaysia by local government area, 2020.
There are 64 settlements in Malaysia with a population of over 150,000 people. All 13 states and the Federal Territories have at least one settlement in the list.
West Malaysia has more settlements that fit this criteria than
East Malaysia, with 50 settlements against the East's 14. The states with the least amount of settlements in this list are
Negeri Sembilan, the
Federal Territories and
Perlis, with one locality each respectively, while the state with the highest amount of settlements with a population above 150,000 is
Selangor, with 11 settlements in the list.
The DOSM does not provide any definitions related to
metropolitan areas in Malaysia, nor have any statistical calculations that concern
build-up areas surrounding an urban centre. However, several major urban regions, such as
Klang Valley,
Greater Penang and
Iskandar Malaysia, have been well-described as metropolitan areas since the early-2010s by local media and government authorities. Despite this, there remains some ambiguity in defining the actual boundaries of other smaller counterparts.
There are 11 metropolitan areas in Malaysia.
Perlis and
Kelantan are the only states without one.
Kedah is the only state with two metro areas (Greater Penang and Alor Setar), while Greater Penang is the only metro to span three different states (Penang, Kedah and
Perak). Greater Penang is also the only metropolitan area where its core city is not its most populated settlement (
George Town has a population of 794,313, while
Seberang Perai has a population of 946,092).
This table displays:
The metropolitan area rank by population as of 2020, as estimated with individual local authority population figures by the DOSM;
^Klang is expected to achieve city status on 23 November 2023.[4]
^The present municipal government administering the regions of Seremban had merged with the now-defunct Nilai municipal government (of the town of Nilai) in 2020.[7]
^Iskandar Malaysia is comprised of three cities, two municipalities and two districts. It underwent an expansion in February 2019 which doubled its area. Its original area was at 2,217 km2.
This article details the list of the most populous settlements in
Malaysia. Malaysia designates all populated regions into three categories: a district, municipality, or city. While district boundaries are limited to individual state-drawn district boundaries, some municipalities and cities are made up of several smaller component districts whose elevated status forms a local government. Thus, this list does not include component districts and only includes overall administrative localities defined by their respective local governments.
This table lists all cities, municipalities and districts in Malaysia whose population exceeds 150,000 people, according to statistics published in the
2020 Malaysian census by the
Malaysian Department of Statistics (DOSM). There are 64 populated regions in Malaysia whose population exceeds 150,000 people. All 13 states and the
Federal Territories have at least one city, municipality or district whose population exceeded 150,000 people.
This table displays:
The settlement rank by population as of 2020, as estimated by the DOSM;
The population of Peninsular Malaysia by local government area, 2020.
There are 64 settlements in Malaysia with a population of over 150,000 people. All 13 states and the Federal Territories have at least one settlement in the list.
West Malaysia has more settlements that fit this criteria than
East Malaysia, with 50 settlements against the East's 14. The states with the least amount of settlements in this list are
Negeri Sembilan, the
Federal Territories and
Perlis, with one locality each respectively, while the state with the highest amount of settlements with a population above 150,000 is
Selangor, with 11 settlements in the list.
The DOSM does not provide any definitions related to
metropolitan areas in Malaysia, nor have any statistical calculations that concern
build-up areas surrounding an urban centre. However, several major urban regions, such as
Klang Valley,
Greater Penang and
Iskandar Malaysia, have been well-described as metropolitan areas since the early-2010s by local media and government authorities. Despite this, there remains some ambiguity in defining the actual boundaries of other smaller counterparts.
There are 11 metropolitan areas in Malaysia.
Perlis and
Kelantan are the only states without one.
Kedah is the only state with two metro areas (Greater Penang and Alor Setar), while Greater Penang is the only metro to span three different states (Penang, Kedah and
Perak). Greater Penang is also the only metropolitan area where its core city is not its most populated settlement (
George Town has a population of 794,313, while
Seberang Perai has a population of 946,092).
This table displays:
The metropolitan area rank by population as of 2020, as estimated with individual local authority population figures by the DOSM;
^Klang is expected to achieve city status on 23 November 2023.[4]
^The present municipal government administering the regions of Seremban had merged with the now-defunct Nilai municipal government (of the town of Nilai) in 2020.[7]
^Iskandar Malaysia is comprised of three cities, two municipalities and two districts. It underwent an expansion in February 2019 which doubled its area. Its original area was at 2,217 km2.