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ECONOMIC CENSUS · ESTABLISHMENTS · MALAYSIA

How dense is the business ecosystem?

Compare operating establishments by state, normalize them against population, then inspect the biggest services-business district hotspots.

REFERENCE YEAR 2022Kedah

DOSM Economic Census establishment counts describe the business ecosystem — not the exact number of competitors in your category.

Research by business typeDistrict intelligenceCommercial activityBusiness momentum
← Business edition
BUSINESS ECOSYSTEM · KEDAH

How crowded — and how active — is Kedah?

Scale, density and growth answer different questions. Read them together before treating establishment counts as either opportunity or competition.

OPERATING ESTABLISHMENTS49,435#8 of 16DOSM Economic Census · reference year 2022
PER 1,000 RESIDENTS22.9density rank #14PulseKita-derived population normalization
2015 → 2022+0.3%0.04% published CAGR49,286 → 49,435
NATIONAL SHARE4.5%share of Malaysia establishmentsNational total 1,091,867
HOW TO READ THIS

A high establishment count can signal a deep ecosystem, a large market and/or strong competition. Density is normalized by population, but it still does not measure the number of competitors in your exact business category.

KEDAH · ECOSYSTEM BOARDScale, density and growth are different signals.
BUSINESS ECOSYSTEM SIZE49,435

Operating establishments

#8of 16 states / territories

Economic Census 2023 · reference year 2022

POPULATION-NORMALIZED DENSITY22.9

Establishments per 1,000 residents

#14normalized against 2022 population

Derived by PulseKita. Higher density can mean a stronger ecosystem and/or more competition.

ECOSYSTEM CHANGE+0.3%

2015 → 2022 establishment change

49,286 → 49,435 · CAGR 0.04%

MARKET SIZE CONTEXT2,163,100

Population

2022 DOSM state population used for density normalization.

NATIONAL SHARE4.5%

Share of Malaysia establishments

National total: 1,091,867 establishments.

MALAYSIA · STATE ECOSYSTEMSCompare business scale with population-normalized density.
2022Selangor
#1
ESTABLISHMENTS270,363
PER 1,000 PEOPLE38.3#3
2015 → 2022+47.5%5.7% CAGR
2022Kuala Lumpur
#2
ESTABLISHMENTS136,305
PER 1,000 PEOPLE69.5#1
2015 → 2022-0.2%-0.04% CAGR
2022Johor
#3
ESTABLISHMENTS129,425
PER 1,000 PEOPLE32.1#6
2015 → 2022+29.3%3.7% CAGR
2022Pulau Pinang
#4
ESTABLISHMENTS82,416
PER 1,000 PEOPLE47.3#2
2015 → 2022+21.3%2.8% CAGR
2022Perak
#5
ESTABLISHMENTS78,729
PER 1,000 PEOPLE31.3#7
2015 → 2022+3.5%0.5% CAGR
2022Sarawak
#6
ESTABLISHMENTS70,626
PER 1,000 PEOPLE28.6#9
2015 → 2022+17.9%2.4% CAGR
2022Sabah
#7
ESTABLISHMENTS68,267
PER 1,000 PEOPLE20#15
2015 → 2022+20.3%2.7% CAGR
2022Kedah
#8
ESTABLISHMENTS49,435
PER 1,000 PEOPLE22.9#14
2015 → 2022+0.3%0.04% CAGR
2022Kelantan
#9
ESTABLISHMENTS42,676
PER 1,000 PEOPLE23.3#13
2015 → 2022-9.3%-1.4% CAGR
2022Pahang
#10
ESTABLISHMENTS42,607
PER 1,000 PEOPLE26.4#11
2015 → 2022+11.6%1.6% CAGR
2022Negeri Sembilan
#11
ESTABLISHMENTS41,560
PER 1,000 PEOPLE34.4#4
2015 → 2022+24.8%3.2% CAGR
2022Terengganu
#12
ESTABLISHMENTS33,881
PER 1,000 PEOPLE28.6#10
2015 → 2022+14.6%2% CAGR
2022Melaka
#13
ESTABLISHMENTS33,868
PER 1,000 PEOPLE33.6#5
2015 → 2022+6.4%0.9% CAGR
2022Perlis
#14
ESTABLISHMENTS7,233
PER 1,000 PEOPLE25#12
2015 → 2022+5.3%0.7% CAGR
2022Labuan
#15
ESTABLISHMENTS2,885
PER 1,000 PEOPLE29.8#8
2015 → 2022+10.8%1.5% CAGR
2022Putrajaya
#16
ESTABLISHMENTS1,579
PER 1,000 PEOPLE13.5#16
2015 → 2022+22.5%2.9% CAGR
SERVICES HOTSPOTS · TOP 15Where DOSM found the largest services-business clusters.
#1
PetalingSelangor
101,695services establishmentsDistrict →
#4
Ulu LangatSelangor
35,254services establishmentsDistrict →
#7
Timur LautPulau Pinang
26,529services establishmentsDistrict →
#9
Melaka TengahMelaka
20,552services establishmentsDistrict →
#10
Seberang Perai TengahPulau Pinang
19,416services establishmentsDistrict →
#11
SerembanNegeri Sembilan
18,645services establishmentsDistrict →
#13
Kota KinabaluSabah
17,133services establishmentsDistrict →
#14
Kota BharuKelantan
14,921services establishmentsDistrict →
NATIONAL BUSINESS MIX · 2022What kind of establishments make up the ecosystem?
87.2% OF ESTABLISHMENTS951,862

Services

6.5% OF ESTABLISHMENTS71,062

Construction

5% OF ESTABLISHMENTS54,505

Manufacturing

1.2% OF ESTABLISHMENTS12,998

Agriculture

0.1% OF ESTABLISHMENTS1,440

Mining & quarrying

SELECTED SERVICE CATEGORIESNational scale only — not local competitor counts yet.
STATE DENSITY AVAILABLE475,566

Wholesale & retail trade

Includes wholesale, retail and motor-vehicle trade/repair.

STATE DENSITY AVAILABLE136,453

Food & beverage

National services-sector establishment count.

ECONOMIC CENSUS · 202264,503

Personal services & other activities

Broad services category; not a single competitor class.

STATE DENSITY AVAILABLE19,847

Private health & social work

Includes private health and social-work services.

ECONOMIC CENSUS · 202218,242

Private education

Includes pre-school, tuition, training, schools and higher education.

ECONOMIC CENSUS · 20227,561

Arts, entertainment & recreation

Includes creative, cultural, amusement, sports and recreation services.

COMPETITION ≠ DENSITY

This tells us where businesses cluster — not yet how many direct competitors you face.

A state with many establishments may have a deeper supplier base, more business customers, more talent and stronger commercial infrastructure.

The next layer must narrow establishments by exact activity and local catchment before PulseKita labels anything a competitor count.

OFFICIAL SOURCEEconomic Census 2023 · Establishment Statistics

Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM)

Open DOSM source ↗