How Healthy is the Urban Malaysian?

How Healthy Is The Urban Malaysian?

While 90% of Urban Malaysians say they have no major health issues, almost half (48%) suffer from some minor health issues.

Malaysia – An online study conducted on Health & Wellness by Ipsos and Toluna among 2,588 respondents across Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and Hong Kong found that Thailand has the significantly lowest percentage of minor health problems (30%), while Hong Kong has the significantly highest (55%). While Malaysia is relatively average, almost half (48%) of Urban Malaysians suffer from some minor health issues, on par with Singapore (44%).

When it comes to Major health issues in Malaysia, significantly more women (13%) than men (7%) suffer from them. Across age groups, 10% of the middle aged 30-44 year old Malaysian have some form of a major ailment, with 14% of those 45 and above being afflicted.

When it comes to Physical and emotional fitness, 14% of Malaysians consider themselves to be extremely fit and 26% of them to be very emotionally balanced. In addition, 43% of Malaysians consider themselves somewhat fit, a significantly higher number than Singapore’s 36%. When it comes to emotional balance, older Malaysians 45 and above, feel significantly more balanced (56%), compared to the younger ones (45%). Across the region, only 15% of Hong Kongers feel very emotionally balanced, lesser than the 21% of Singaporeans and 48% of Indonesians.

“Over the last few years, Health as a holistic concept – that it is about both physical and emotional fitness – has begun to be embraced by the Urban Malaysian consumer, and we are seeing this reflected in the shift in their lifestyle as well as in their buying habits. This appears to be paying off as we see Urban Malaysians being healthier both physically and emotionally compared to some regional markets.” said Katharine Davis, Managing Director, Ipsos in Malaysia.

About the Study

This study was conducted online by Ipsos and Toluna in June 2015, surveying 2,588 respondents across Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Singapore and 532 of these respondents from urban centres in Malaysia.