MEASURING DEVELOPMENT PROGRESS: THE DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS FOR MALAYSIA

A paper prepared for The UN Workshop on Development Indicators for the ASEAN Countries, 1-5 October, 2001 Manila, Philippines

By Mr. Ho Siow Keng And Ms. Nurhayati Binti Shahar Ali

Department of Statistics, Malaysia

MEASURING DEVELOPMENT PROGRESS: THE DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS FOR MALAYSIA

1.

Introduction 1.1 In Malaysia, development planning and implementation play a vital role towards achieving the vision of becoming a fully developed nation by the year 2020. The development policies, strategies and

programmes crystallized in the Third Outline Perspective Plan (20012010) and the Eighth Malaysia Plan (2001-2005) chart the steps in bringing Malaysia towards achieving the goal. Continuous efforts

are made to raise the quality of development and ensure sustainable growth.

1.2

It vital for policy makers and implementers to obtain comprehensive information and feed backs in order to assess the progress and success of the strategies and programmes implemented. In order to make

sound decisions on development policies and strategies, a wide range of reliable information is required to measure the development progress and performance of Malaysia. This information gives focus not only on measuring economic progress but balanced socioeconomic and sustainable development. Hence, a reliable set of measurement indicators is pivotal in tracking the development progress.

1.3

The Department of Statistics (DOS) Malaysia is the central statistical organization which is entrusted with the responsibilities to collect,

process, analyze and disseminate statistical information on Malaysia. This is complemented by the statistical units in the various government agencies and ministries which collects information for their own specific needs. DOS plays a central role in providing timely and reliable statistical information to the central and state planning agencies such as the Economic Planning Unit (Prime Ministers Department), the Central Bank, the Treasury, the state economic planning agencies and others for their planning purposes.

2.

Development Indicators

2.1

As a central statistical agency, DOS Malaysia derives its information from primary sources through censuses and surveys (population and economic censuses, household and economic surveys) conducted at regular period. Besides, DOS also compiles secondary data from

administrative records (births and deaths certificates, imports and exports declaration forms). Hence, data for indicators on economic and social well being of the population are in general readily available. Environment indicators are derived mainly from

secondary data sources.

2.2

The list of indicators used in assessing development progress in Malaysia is provided in Annex 1. Some general and specific issues

concerning these indicators will be highlighted and discussed.

2.2.1 Population and Demography

Indicators such as the population growth rates, sex ratios, total fertility rates, infant mortality rates, maternal mortality rates

and others are derived from the Population and Housing Census while the inter-censal population estimates based on births and deaths statistics are derived from the civil registration system. It is noteworthy that accurate assessment of the dynamics of population changes hinges on the reliability of births and deaths statistics. Efforts are made to overcome the under-reporting of births and deaths in the very remote areas particularly in the states of Sabah and Sarawak.

2.2.2

Labour Force and Employment

Human resource development continued to be given priority in Malaysias development planning with the objective of producing highly skilled, trainable and knowledge manpower to support the development of a knowledge-based economy. Labour Force Participation Rate, Unemployment Rate and Percentage Distribution of Employment by Sectors and Occupations are the key indicators reflecting the health of the job market. These statistics are collected mainly from the

Labour Force Survey carried out by the DOS Malaysia on a quarterly basis.

2.2.3 Income and Poverty

Poverty eradication and bridging income inequality gap continued to be the focus of the Eighth Malaysia Plan. The indicators used for the measurement of the economic well being of the population and the effectiveness of the poverty eradication programmes are the incidence of poverty, income

distribution, Gini Coefficient and accessibility to basic amenities. DOS carried out the Household Income/Basic

Amenities Surveys regularly to provide data inputs to the construction of these indicators. In addition, the Economic Planning Unit (Prime Ministers Department) and other agencies had also commissioned studies on more specific aspects of poverty as the need arose.

It is noteworthy that remarkable progress has been achieved in poverty eradication programmes. In the early 1970s almost half of the households was classified as poor and in 1999 the incidence of poverty among Malaysians was reduced to 7.5 percent. It is targeted to reduce the incidence of poverty further to 0.5 percent by 2005. Various measures are also implemented to reduce imbalance between the rural and urban areas as well as between the less developed and the more developed states. In 1989, the Gini Coefficient was 0.442 and in 1997 it is registered as 0.459. In terms of accessibility to basic amenities, the survey results revealed that the percentage of households received electricity increased from 90.7 percent to 98.0 percent while the percentage of households received treated water supply increased from 74.0 percent to 87.9 percent from 1989 to 1999.

2.2.4 Education

The thrusts of the education programmes are to increase accessibility, strengthen the delivery system and improve the quality of education. Indicators related to education aim at measuring access, retention and achievement. Primary and

secondary school enrolment ratios, literacy rate, pupil-teacher ratios (primary/ secondary school) and per capita government expenditure on education are important indicators used in assess goals set in the implementation of education

programmes. The literacy rate of Malaysia was recorded at about 89 percent in 1999. The percentage of primary schoolage children (6-11 years old) who go to school ( i.e. primary school enrolment ratio ) was 97.6 percent and the enrolment ratio of secondary school pupils (12-18 years old) was 58.9 percent in year 2000.

2.2.5 Health

Primary healthcare remains the focus of national health development while converted efforts will be continued to improve equity and quality in the provision of health services for the population. Some of the indicators of health status used include among others: life expectancy at birth (male/female), crude birth rate, crude death rate, infant mortality rate, toddler mortality rate, maternal mortality rate, perinatal mortality rate and neonatal mortality rate, population per doctor, public health facilities ratio to population, child (under one year) immunization rate (BCG/Measles/Polio/Diphtheria, Pertussis and Tetanus). The life expectancy of Malaysia at

birth was estimated at 70.2 percent and 75.0 percent respectively for males and females. Infant mortality rate was recorded at 7.9 per 1, 000 live births.

2.2.6 Economic Indicators

Economic indicators are indispensable tools used by planners to monitor and assess the health of the economy. These

indicators include, among others, the real GDP growth rate, GNI per capita, balance of trade in goods and services, Current Account Balance, Net International Reserves,

Consumer Price Index, Producer Price Index and Industrial Production Index. Timeliness and reliability are the essential elements in ensuring usefulness and relevance of these indicators.

2.2.7 Environment

Environment considerations will increasingly be integrated in the formulation of sectoral policies in order to ensure sustainability of economic and social development ( Seventh Malaysia Plan, 1996-2000). Steps will be taken to strengthen the database for environmental decision making by introducing the use of sustainable development indicators. This will enable the Government to better ascertain impacts and plan remedial actions. ( Eighth Malaysia Plan, 2001-2005).

DOS Malaysia is entrusted with the responsibility of being the central depository for environment statistics, which are compiled from all existing line agencies. ( Para. 19.81 of Seventh Malaysia Plan). The Malaysian environment

statistics/indicators system is developed based on the United Nations recommended framework (FDES) and the Pressure -

State Response model was adopted. Hence, the environment statistics and indicators are organized following the

framework/model and aim at measuring the pressures-stateresponse as the result of human activities on the various media of environment, namely air/atmosphere, environment water/aquatic and human

environment,

land/terrestrial

settlements. ( Refer Annex 1 for detailed list of indicators).

3.

Conclusion

The list of indicators presented in the above discussion is by no means exhaustive and it needs to be reviewed continuously to ensure that the indicators are able to capture new development and priorities of the country. Evidently, the quality of the indicators rely heavily on the

source data which have to meet the criteria of reliability and timeliness. Considerations need to be given on improving and

refining methodology and coverage of the indicators set particularly in respect of international comparability.

------------------------------------------------------------References:

1. 2. 3.

Seventh Malaysia Plan, 1996-2000 Eighth Malaysia Plan, 2001-2005 Social Statistics Bulletin, Malaysia, 2000

4. Compendium of Environment Statistics, Malaysia 1999 5. The Malaysian Economy in Figures 2001 6. The Malaysian Economy in Brief, Ogos 2001

ANNEX 1

SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENT INDICATORS, MALAYSIA

1.

POPULATION / DEMOGRAPHY
1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 1.11 Total Population Population Density Population Under 15 Years Old. Population Aged 65 and Above Total Fertility Rate Crude Rate of Natural Increase Crude Birth Rate Crude Death Rate Annual Population Growth Rate Sex Ratio Dependency Ratio

2.

LABOR FORCE AND EMPLOYMENT

2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Labour Force Participation Rate Unemployment Rate Employment by Sectors Employment by Occupations

3.

INCOME AND POVERTY

3.1 3.2 3.3 Incidence of Poverty/Hard-core Poverty Income Distribution Gini Coefficient of Income Inequality

4.

EDUCATION
4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Enrollment Rate (Primary & Secondary School) Student Teacher Ratio (Primary & Secondary School) Government Expenditure on Education per capita Literacy Rate

5.

HEALTH
5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 Life Expectancy at Birth (by Sex) Neonatal Mortality Rate Infant Mortality Rate Toddler Mortality Rate Maternal Mortality Rate Population per Doctor Government Expenditure on Health Immunization (BCG, Measles, Polio, Hepatitis B, Diphtheria, Pertussis and Tetanus)

6.

ECONOMIC
6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 6.9 Real Gross Domestic Product Growth Rate Per Capita GNI Current Account Balance Private Long Term Capital Net International Reserves Consumer Price Index Producer Price Index Index of Industrial Production Balance of Trade

7.

ENVIRONMENT
Air / Atmosphere 7.1 Emission of Pollutants to the Atmosphere 7.2 CFCs and Halon Consumption Per Capita 7.3 Average Concentration of Carbon Monoxide, Lead, Sulphur Dioxide, Ozone and Particulate Matter 10 micron diameter (PM10) Water ( Inland / Marine ) 7.4 Water Quality Index - Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD5) - Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) - Ammoniacal Nitrogen - Suspended Solids - Heavy Metals 7.5 Average concentration of Oil and Grease, E. Coli, Heavy Metals, Total Suspended Solids in marine water 7.6 Annual landing of marine fish

Land 7.7 Forest area as a percentage of land area 7.8 Mangrove / Peat Swamp Forest Area 7.9 Permanent Reserved Forest Area Urban / Human Settlement 7.10 Population Density ( urban ) 7.11 Water supply coverage (urban / rural ) 7.12 Generation of Industrial and Municipal Wastes 7.13 Generation of Hazardous Wastes.

8 OTHERS
8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 Government Expenditure(Development) On Housing Hard Surface Road per Square Kilometre Area Motor Vehicles per Kilometre of Hard Surfaced Road Telephones per 1,000 Population Average Daily Newspaper Circulation per 1,000 Population Contributors of Employees Provident Fund per 10,000 Working Age Population

10