The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) released the Malaysian Well-Being Index Report (MyWI), 2022 which integrated two well-being sub-composites, namely economic well-being and social well-being to measure the level of the state of Malaysians.
Economic well-being consists of five components namely transportation, communications, education, income and distribution and working life. Social well-being comprises nine components, namely housing, entertainment and recreation, public safety, social participation, governance, culture, health, environment and family.
MyWI 2022 at the national level comprises 14 components and 70 indicators which is 25 economic indicators and 45 social indicators. In line with current needs as well as availability of relevant indicators, several new indicators have been added, which are indicators related to culture and health component which include the level of mental health rate, immunisation coverage of infants for diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis and immunisation coverage MMR (Mumps, Measles and Rubella) for children aged 1 to less than 2 years.
Chief Statistician Malaysia, Dato’ Sri Dr. Mohd Uzir Mahidin said, “Malaysian Well-being in 2022 represents the endemic and recovering phases of the COVID-19. Malaysia moved into the endemic phase starting April 2022 with the reopening of economy in stages and this has positive impact to both sub-composites. Performance of MyWI in 2022 increased 2.5 per cent to 121.2 points as compared to 118.3 points in 2021. Both sub-composites increased in 2022. The economic well-being sub-composite recorded an increase of 3.6 per cent in 2022 to 130.0 points as compared to 125.5 points in 2021 and the social well-being sub-composite increased by 1.8 per cent to 116.4 points as compared to 114.3 in the same period”.
Dr. Mohd Uzir said, “The positive growth in the Malaysian Well-being Index was contributed by the increase of 11 out of 14 economic and social components in 2022. Three highest components that contributed to the increase in MyWI were entertainment and recreation (20.8%), transportation (8.0%) and culture (6.5%).
Based on the findings of the sub-composite index of economic well-being index, all five components posted positive growth in 2022, namely transportation (8.0%), income and distribution (5.0%), education (4.1%), communications (0.5%) and working life (0.4%). The findings of the sub-composite index of social well-being showed that six from nine components registered positive growth contributed by entertainment and recreation (20.8%), culture (6.5%), environment (3.4%), housing (1.6%), health (1.3%) and family (0.8%). The entertainment and recreation component increased significantly due to the endemic transition phase effective from April 2022 where tourism, entertainment and recreation activities have resumed as they were prior the pandemic”.
At the same time, the three components of MyWI showed a decline, namely public safety governance and social participation. Public Safety Index decreased by 9.4 per cent to 126.1 points in 2022 as compared to 139.2 points in 2021. The decline is attributed to the increase in the number of road accident in tandem with reopening of borders as well as economic activities. This was followed by 2.3 per cent decrease in the governance component to 120.8 points in 2022 as compared to 123.7 points in 2021 mainly due to the decrease in the percentage of corruption cases prosecuted, the percentage of e-filing users and the percentage of cases solved by Public Complaints Bureau. The social participation component also recorded a decrease of 0.08 per cent to 130.2 points in 2022 as compared to 130.3 points in 2021 following the decline in membership of RELA and the number of registered non-profit organisations.
State Well-Being Index (SWI) Performance
The State Well-being Index (SWI) takes into account 14 components and 63 indicators including 24 economic indicators and 39 social indicators. Overall, the SWI performance for all states recorded an increase in the index points in 2022. The three states that recorded the highest index points were Perlis with 2.9 index points to 115.2 points in 2022 as compared to 112.3 points in 2021, followed by Sarawak 2.8 index points to 119.5 points in 2022 as compared to 116.7 points in 2021 and Perak 2.4 index points to 118.5 points as compared to 116.1 points in the same period.
In terms of the economic sub-composite, all states recorded an increase in index points. The three states that recorded the highest index points in the economic sub-composite were Perlis with an increase of 7.6 index points to 123.5 points in 2022. This was followed by Sabah and Perak, which increased by 5.0 index points and 4.0 index points to 128.2 and 128.9 points respectively.
