Malaysia (population 25,347 million¹) is a country in south eastern Asia that covers an area of around 330,000 square kilometres. Its territory encompasses a peninsula which borders Thailand and the northern one-third of the island of Borneo, bordering Indonesia, Brunei, and the South China Sea.

In 1948, the British-ruled territories on the Malay Peninsula formed the Federation of Malaya, which became independent in 1957. Malaysia was formed in 1963 when the former British colonies of Singapore and the east Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak (northern Borneo) joined the Federation. Singapore left the Federation in 1965.

The country is made up of 13 states and one federal territory with three components: Labuan, Putrajaya and the capital Kuala Lumpur (population about 1.5 million).

The United Nations Human Development Index ranks Malaysia 63 out of 177 countries worldwide (value 0.811). This places Malaysia in the group of countries with high human development.²

According to the 4-part typology developed by the International Observatory on End of Life Care, Malaysia categorised as a country in Group 4 - where palliative care services are achieving a measure of integration with wider health and social service providers.³