KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 24): Families in Shah Alam need to spend more than those in Kuala Lumpur to achieve a decent standard of living. This is shown by the Basic Expenditure of Decent Living (PAKW) Index, compiled by the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM), which compares living costs across states, districts, and state capitals.
The index is based on poverty line income but adjusted to reflect living above the minimum. It uses spending patterns of the middle 60% income group, including balanced nutrition, broader non-food needs, social participation, and dining-out costs.
Kuala Lumpur is set as the benchmark at 100. Places below 100 are cheaper to live in, while places above 100 are more expensive.
Shah Alam, within the district of Petaling and Klang in Selangor, was the only state capital whose basic expenditure of decent living index exceeded that of Kuala Lumpur based on 2024 data released by the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) on Wednesday.
DOSM data showed that while the cost of living in the capital of Selangor was lower than KL for single-person households, it was higher for families.
The value stood at 100.1 points for a two-person household, 100.2 points for a three-person household, and 100.3 points for a four-person household.
Petaling’s mean household monthly basic expenditure for decent living is RM6,870, while Klang’s stands at RM6,404, according to the government’s main data agency.
In contrast, Kuala Lumpur’s came in at RM5,639.
Among state capitals, Shah Alam is consistently more expensive than Kuala Lumpur, while Kangar, Perlis is the cheapest, costing just over half as much as Shah Alam.
DOSM said these differences show clear regional gaps in living costs and highlight the usefulness of the PAKW Index in comparing the cost of living across Malaysia.
At the district level, only Petaling costs more than Kuala Lumpur, while places like Pantu and Sebuyau in Sarawak and Membakut in Sabah are much cheaper, with Pantu costing less than one-third of Petaling.
Selangor has the highest costs at the state level, while Kelantan, Kedah, and Perlis are among the lowest.
On a state basis, Selangor was top with 92 points for a single-person household, 91.4 for a two-person household, 92.4 for a three-person household, and 91.3 for a four-person household, below the Kuala Lumpur reference point.
Other high-cost-of-living states and Federal Territories were Putrajaya and Penang. States with the lowest index values were Sabah, Kedah, Perlis and Kelantan.