Skip to content

NXS-GRX-MYS · South-eastern Asia · Regions

Sabah

First-level unit, Malaysia: people, area, the units inside and neighbours, with risk values when released.

Page GRX-MYS-REdition Baseline Edition 2026Evidence close 2026-09-30ISO MYS / MYStatus UN member stateValues not yet publishedMethod v1.0.0-draft
3,760,247
people (GHSL 2025)
74,368 km²
area
11.1%
of Malaysia
27
units inside

01Map

Inside Sabah

The 27 ADM2 units of Sabah.

FIG 1 · 27 units inside Sabah
Loading the map

Units rise with people per km² · GHSL 2025 raster · terrain · ADM1 ADM2Risk values when released
Lowest fifthLow fifthMiddle fifthHigh fifthHighest fifthNo data
Column height and colour show people per km² by unit, in quantile fifths among the units shown (the key on the map gives the breaks); units with no people on the grid are grey, not the lowest class; the raster beneath is the GHSL 2025 population grid. Source observations, not index values. Choose a humanitarian figure from the list to colour and raise the units by it; each figure shows its source on the unit page. Select a unit to drill into the units inside it; the path above the map climbs back.
02Figures

People, area and density

Source observations from open grids summed inside the boundary; not index values.

People · GHSL 2025

3,760,247

11.1% of Malaysia.

People · WorldPop 2025

3,485,820

-7% against GHSL; the two grids differ in method.

Indawo

74,368 km²

51 people per km².

Ikhowudi

MY-12

Subdivision code as carried by the boundary source.

Low coastal zone

692,157

people on land at or below 10 m, 18.4% of the unit (GEBCO 2024 and GHSL 2025).

03Humanitarian data

Sabah in humanitarian data

Source observations from the Humanitarian Data Exchange, matched to this unit by name, each with its reference date, provider and licence. They are not index values.

Population · 2020-12-31

2,037,600

people. UNFPA · Creative Commons Attribution for Intergovernmental Organisations (CC BY-IGO).

Rainfall · 2026-10-10

120%

of the long-term average, latest dekad. WFP – World Food Programme · Creative Commons Attribution International (CC BY).

04Units

27 units inside Sabah

Each unit has its own page.

Boundary licences: Open Data Commons Open Database License 1.0 · Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Unit Ikhowudi People (GHSL) People (WorldPop) Area km² Per km² Share Coast ≤ 10 m
Beaufort – 83,304 81,667 1,811.76 46 2.2% 14,971
Beluran – 85,807 83,840 5,670.42 15 2.3% 14,800
Kalabakan – 52,706 65,859 3,986.26 13 1.4% 5,095
Keningau – 223,873 151,728 3,670.06 61 6% 0
Kinabatangan – 193,639 164,200 7,338.43 26 5.2% 19,211
Kota Belud – 111,373 112,048 1,332.23 84 3% 26,620
Kota Kinabalu – 586,818 476,332 346.83 1,692 15.6% 143,871
Kota Marudu – 86,405 78,110 1,808.79 48 2.3% 6,880
Kuala Penyu – 20,543 21,665 393.92 52 0.5% 3,863
Kudat – 76,568 72,946 1,287.94 59 2% 1,169
Kunak – 62,734 69,758 1,237.13 51 1.7% 1,315
Lahad Datu – 250,895 245,776 7,393.37 34 6.7% 17,476
Nabawan / Persiangan – 42,280 31,052 6,249.61 7 1.1% 0
Papar – 155,886 157,963 1,300.47 120 4.2% 62,041
Penampang – 250,156 221,758 427.9 585 6.7% 104,722
Pitas – 42,516 36,123 1,519.2 28 1.1% 5,814
Putatan – 33,699 55,394 35.14 959 0.9% 4,890
Ranau – 122,892 87,828 3,846.5 32 3.3% 0
Sandakan – 423,207 431,408 2,168.42 195 11.3% 149,806
Semporna – 75,466 117,635 1,122.26 67 2% 17,081
Sipitang – 32,899 30,226 2,595.73 13 0.9% 1,650
Tambunan – 45,921 30,939 1,321.89 35 1.2% 0
Tawau – 410,832 369,668 2,091.94 196 10.9% 72,039
Telupid – 41,382 33,436 2,003.15 21 1.1% 419
Tenom – 71,494 52,491 2,156.15 33 1.9% 0
Tongod – 47,163 47,851 10,074.66 5 1.3% 0
Tuaran – 123,220 144,666 1,119.61 110 3.3% 26,565
05Ukuchaphazeleka

Open exposure layers

Count of H3 resolution-3 cells whose centre falls in the unit and that carry each Natural Earth layer.

Urban areas
63 H3 cells
Ports
None at this resolution
Airports
None at this resolution
Major roads
1,359 H3 cells
Railways
133.7 H3 cells
Rivers and lakes
None at this resolution
06Umngcipheko

Risk values

Values when released. Subnational risk values for Sabah publish with the edition from The Global Risks Index. Until then, run a scenario on open data for Malaysia.
07Neighbours

Neighbouring units

08Imithombo

Sources, credits and licences

ADM1 boundaries
geoBoundaries (William & Mary geoLab), gbOpen MYS ADM1, source: OpenStreetMap, Wambacher © OpenStreetMap contributors, licence: Open Data Commons Open Database License 1.0 (share-alike: this boundary layer is offered under the same licence) · source · represents 2017. Offered under the same licence (Open Data Commons Open Database License 1.0), kept as its own layer and not merged into other data.
ADM2 boundaries
geoBoundaries (William & Mary geoLab), gbOpen MYS ADM2, source: geoBoundaries, citypopulation.de, licence: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License · source · represents 2020
ADM3 boundaries
geoBoundaries (William & Mary geoLab), gbOpen MYS ADM3, source: Wikimedia Commons, geoBoundaries, licence: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) · source · represents 2021
Basemap
OpenFreeMap © OpenMapTiles (CC BY 4.0) · data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL 1.0). Vector tiles requested by the reader’s browser, unmodified; the map falls back to plain land and sea when the host does not answer.
Terrain
Terrain Tiles (Mapzen, AWS Open Data), compiled from SRTM and other public elevation sources (NASA, USGS, ETOPO1, GMTED, EU-DEM under the Copernicus programme, Geoscience Australia, Kartverket, INEGI, LINZ, data.gov.uk). Display relief, not survey data.
People
GHSL 2025 population grid, European Commission Joint Research Centre (CC BY 4.0), shown at 0.05° and summed per unit; WorldPop 2025 (CC BY 4.0) as a second estimate. Units smaller than a grid cell take the density of the cell under them.
Amazwe
Natural Earth (public domain).
Elevation
GEBCO Compilation Group (2024) GEBCO 2024 Grid (public domain), reduced to 0.05°: the share of each cell’s land at or below 10 m, weighted by GHSL 2025 people for the low coastal zone.
Position
Boundaries are shown for location only and take no position on any boundary, name or status.