Data release 2026.09.26 · 27 districts · 5 divisions
Atlas Ekonomi Sabah
What is working in each of Sabah's districts, what is holding it back, and where it is heading.
Official DOSM statistics, rule-based diagnostics, structural peers across all 160 Malaysian districts, and projections with honest uncertainty. Every number carries its source and year.
- West Coast
- Interior
- Kudat
- Sandakan
- Tawau
The income gap
RM 2,785 → RM 6,563
Median monthly household income, Pitas to Putatan, 2024.
DOSM · hh_income_district
The poverty gap
50.0%
of households in Pitas were below the poverty line in 2024, the highest in Sabah.
DOSM · hh_poverty_district
The data gap
2020
is the latest year of published district GDP. The atlas nowcasts 2021–2025 from state sector data and says so on every chart.
DOSM · gdp_district_real_supply
The state in 27 strips
Every district's signature, woven together
West Coast Division
Kudat Division
Sandakan Division
Tawau Division
Five divisions, five economies
West Coast Division
Chapter 1 of 5
West Coast
Kota Kinabalu and its suburbs: services are about three-quarters of output in the typical district and incomes are the state's highest, yet the capital's median income sits below structural peers such as Kuching and Miri.
- Districts
- 7
- Population
- 1,290k
- mid-2025 estimate
- Median income
- RM 3,470 – RM 6,563
- Ranau → Putatan · 2024
- Absolute poverty
- 5.7% – 26.1%
- Penampang → Kota Belud · 2024
- Most common type
- Services-led towns & suburbs
- 3 of 7 districts
Chapter 2 of 5
Interior
Hill and river districts behind the Crocker Range, where services now make up most of output and poverty is the lowest outside the West Coast. Membakut was gazetted out of Beaufort and is reported separately from 2024.
- Districts
- 7
- Population
- 420k
- mid-2025 estimate
- Median income
- RM 3,733 – RM 4,854
- Kuala Penyu → Tambunan · 2024
- Absolute poverty
- 8.3% – 25.4%
- Tambunan → Nabawan · 2024
- Most common type
- Services-led towns & suburbs
- 4 of 7 districts
Chapter 3 of 5
Kudat
The northern tip, where agriculture is over two-fifths of output and DOSM's 2024 survey found half of Pitas households below the poverty line, the highest share in Sabah.
- Districts
- 3
- Population
- 208k
- mid-2025 estimate
- Median income
- RM 2,785 – RM 3,249
- Pitas → Kudat · 2024
- Absolute poverty
- 35.3% – 50.0%
- Kudat → Pitas · 2024
- Most common type
- Rural economy with mining & quarrying
- 2 of 3 districts
Chapter 4 of 5
Sandakan
The Kinabatangan plantation and processing heartland, with manufacturing near a quarter of output, and home to Sabah's three fastest-growing median incomes since 2019: Telupid, Tongod and Beluran.
- Districts
- 5
- Population
- 834k
- mid-2025 estimate
- Median income
- RM 3,470 – RM 5,314
- Tongod → Sandakan · 2024
- Absolute poverty
- 15.2% – 41.5%
- Sandakan → Tongod · 2024
- Most common type
- Plantation & agrarian frontier
- 3 of 5 districts
Chapter 5 of 5
Tawau
The most agricultural division, with nearly half of district output from agriculture, spanning Tawau's port, Lahad Datu's plantations and the Semporna islands.
- Districts
- 5
- Population
- 1,008k
- mid-2025 estimate
- Median income
- RM 3,304 – RM 5,526
- Kalabakan → Lahad Datu · 2024
- Absolute poverty
- 13.2% – 30.4%
- Tawau → Semporna · 2024
- Most common type
- Plantation & agrarian frontier
- 4 of 5 districts
01
Diagnose
Transparent scorecards against structural peers, shift-share decomposition of growth, and the factors associated with each district sitting above or below expectations.
02
Project
Nowcasts from published state sector data and 1–3 year projections, each with an 80% interval calibrated on backtests and scenario toggles for commodity shocks.
03
Advise
An AI Analyst that answers questions and drafts district briefs, citing a data point or document for every claim, with automated citation checks and human review.