SHAH ALAM, May 9 — Malaysia’s rise to the top spot of the Open Data Inventory (ODIN) 2024/2025 assessment reflects the country’s strong statistical system, which is now gaining international acknowledgement.
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said Malaysia ranks first out of 197 countries worldwide, surpassing developed nations such as Finland, Poland and Singapore in global statistical management.
“Last year we were ranked 67th, but now we have become a leader in global statistics.
“Recently, consultants from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) themselves came to ask how the Statistics Department (DOSM) managed to produce such robust statistics,” he said during a press conference on Saturday, Sinar Harian reported.
Earlier, Uzir attended the ‘Run, Breathe, Nature’ programme officiated by Kuala Balah assemblyman Abdul Hadi Awang Kechil at Padang Istiadat, Jeli, which was also attended by Jeli District Council president Wan Fahazil Wan Mohamad Jaffar.
Uzir said that Malaysia’s statistical strength stems from DOSM’s approach of prioritising the needs of users and the public instead of merely producing general data.
He noted that people today require more detailed and disaggregated statistics rather than broad-based information alone.
He added that under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) framework, statistical offices worldwide are responsible for producing more than 300 indicators to measure public wellbeing, economic performance and governance.
