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Atlas Ekonomi Sabah
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Atlas Ekonomi Sabah · District brief · Interior Division

Keningau

AI-generated · unreviewed draftData release 2026.09.26 · 39/39 citations verified · azure:gpt-5-mini
Income: 67th percentile in Sabah (2024)Poverty: 78th percentile in Sabah (2024)Gini: 67th percentile in Sabah (2024)GDP/cap: 54th percentile in Sabah (2020)Services: 73th percentile in Sabah (2020) · descriptiveAgri: 35th percentile in Sabah (2020) · descriptiveMfg: 69th percentile in Sabah (2020) · descriptiveDensity: 54th percentile in Sabah (2025) · descriptiveInc. growth: 46th percentile in Sabah (2024)GDP growth: 46th percentile in Sabah (2020)LFPR: 73th percentile in Sabah (2024)Jobless: 52th percentile in Sabah (2024)Water: 50th percentile in Sabah (2024)Power: 20th percentile in Sabah (2024)Radiance: 62th percentile in Sabah (2025) · descriptiveLit area: 58th percentile in Sabah (2025) · descriptiveLights growth: 46th percentile in Sabah (2025)

Situation

Keningau is classified as "Services-led towns & suburbs" in the atlas .

Median household income was RM 4,097 in 2019 and RM 4,801 in 2024 .

Median income growth since 2019 is 3.2% as reported by the atlas .

Official real GDP is published to 2020 at RM 1,453 (2015 prices) and model nowcasts project a 2025 p50 of RM 1,739 (80% interval RM 1,636–2,071 million) and a 2026 p50 of RM 1,811 (80% interval RM 1,680–2,199 million) (both modelled) .

Strengths

  • Median household income in 2024 is in line with structural peers (verdict IN_LINE) .
  • Absolute poverty in 2024 is better than the district's structural expectation according to the drivers analysis .
  • Labour force participation in 2024 is in line with peers with a short-run improving trend .
  • Shift-share shows a positive benchmark effect for Keningau versus Sabah in 2015–2019 .

Constraints

  • Households with piped water 2024 are below the peer median and flagged MIXED despite an improving trend .
  • Unemployment in 2024 is 8.7% and the scorecard marks the unemployment rate as in line with peers with a flat short-run trend .
  • The competitive (district-level) effect on GDP was negative in 2015–2020 versus Malaysia and Sabah .
  • Drivers list unemployment rate and piped-water access among top associated factors for absolute poverty in Keningau's structure .

Options

  • Targeted expansion of piped-water infrastructure in lagging areas (Evidence: limited; federal rural infrastructure commitments prioritise expanding water supply) .
  • Active labour-market measures linking TVET and services employers to reduce unemployment (Evidence: moderate; drivers associate labour participation and unemployment with income and national plans prioritise TVET) .
  • District-level business-climate actions to reduce the negative competitive effect (Evidence: moderate; shift-share shows a negative competitive effect and a named positive deviant peer improved welfare momentum) .
  • Pilot digital-connectivity and transport-logistics improvements to support services growth (Evidence: limited; national plans prioritise connectivity and logistics enhancements) .

Uncertainties

  • Official district real GDP is available only to 2020; 2021–2026 are model nowcasts/projections with 80% intervals (for example, 2026 gdp_real p50 RM 1,811; 80% interval RM 1,680–RM 2,199) .
  • Median household income beyond 2024 is model-projected (2025 p50 RM 4,919 with 80% interval RM 4,526–RM 5,359) .
  • The scorecard verdict for piped-water access is MIXED, indicating heterogeneity or data-quality issues at sub-district level .
  • Shift-share competitive effects are measured for 2015–2020 and may not reflect post-2020 structural change .

What data would change this view

  • Published DOSM district real GDP series beyond 2020 would replace model nowcasts and reduce growth-trajectory uncertainty .
  • Sub-district data on piped-water access and employment status would clarify whether infrastructure or labour-market gaps drive local poverty pockets .
  • Program-level impact evaluations of water or labour-market interventions in comparable peers would upgrade evidence for options from limited/moderate to strong .

Sources cited

  1. [D1] Keningau · Median household income · 2024 = RM 4,801 (DOSM hh_income_district; rank 10 of 28 in Sabah, 1 = best) (source updated 2025-12-31)
  2. [D2] Keningau · Median household income · 2019 = RM 4,097 (DOSM hh_income_district; rank 9 of 26 in Sabah, 1 = best) (source updated 2025-12-31)
  3. [D9] Keningau · GDP at constant 2015 prices · 2020 = 1,453.3 (DOSM gdp_district_real_supply; 9 of 27 in Sabah by size, 1 = highest (descriptive, not good or bad)) (source updated 2024-11-02)
  4. [D12] Keningau · Median income growth since 2019 · 2024 = 3.2% (derived by the atlas from DOSM data; rank 15 of 27 in Sabah, 1 = best; note: window:2019-2024)
  5. [D13] Keningau · Unemployment rate · 2024 = 8.7% (DOSM lfs_district; rank 12 of 27 in Sabah, 1 = best) (source updated 2025-06-30)
  6. [D26] Keningau · Households with piped water 2024: 86.3% vs peer median 97.7%; level below; trend improving (+0.73/yr, 2022–2024); verdict MIXED (source updated 2026-08-03)
  7. [D27] Keningau · Median household income 2024: RM 4,801 vs peer median RM 4,606; level in_line; trend flat (-0.10/yr, 2022–2024); verdict IN_LINE (source updated 2025-12-31)
  8. [D31] Keningau · Labour force participation rate 2024: 71.7% vs peer median 71.2%; level in_line; trend improving (+1.20/yr, 2023–2024); verdict IN_LINE (source updated 2025-06-30)
  9. [D32] Keningau · Unemployment rate 2024: 8.7% vs peer median 8.3%; level in_line; trend flat (-0.20/yr, 2023–2024); verdict IN_LINE (source updated 2025-06-30)
  10. [D42] Positive deviant for Keningau: Sabak Bernam (Selangor) improved faster since 2019 (welfare momentum 9.7 vs 4.1); differs in: GDP per capita higher (9.17 vs 9.95); piped-water access higher (86.26 vs 100.00); agriculture share higher (4.85 vs 6.38)
  11. [D43] Keningau · income_median latest official 2024 = RM 4,801
  12. [D44] Keningau · income_median 2025 projection (baseline): p50 RM 4,919 (80% interval RM 4,526–RM 5,359)
  13. [D48] Keningau · gdp_real latest official 2020 = 1,453
  14. [D53] Keningau · gdp_real 2025 nowcast: p50 1,739 (80% interval 1,636–2,071)
  15. [D54] Keningau · gdp_real 2026 projection (baseline): p50 1,811 (80% interval 1,680–2,199)
  16. [D58] Keningau GDP 2015–2019 vs Sabah: change +89.9; benchmark effect +198.1; industry mix -14.3; competitive -93.9
  17. [D60] Keningau GDP 2015–2020 vs Sabah: change +38.6; benchmark effect +65.8; industry mix -7.7; competitive -19.5
  18. [D61] Keningau GDP 2015–2020 vs Malaysia: change +38.6; benchmark effect +236.9; industry mix -42.3; competitive -156.0
  19. [D62] Keningau Median household income 2024: actual RM 4,801, expected RM 4,522 (within model error; CV error ±RM 649; model ridge); top associated factors: GDP per capita (2020) -0.072; Unemployment rate -0.071; Labour force participation +0.068; Population density -0.026
  20. [D63] Keningau Absolute poverty rate 2024: actual 12.8%, expected 24.2% (better than structure predicts; CV error ±4.1%; model lightgbm); top associated factors: Unemployment rate +5.662; Piped-water access +2.293; Services share of GDP -2.090; Labour force participation -1.174
  21. [R1] Mid-Term Review of the Twelfth Malaysia Plan, 2021-2025: Main Document, Ministry of Economy, Malaysia (Economic Planning Unit), p. 133. https://rmke12.ekonomi.gov.my/ksp/storage/fileUpload/2023/09/2023091145_main_document_ksp_rmke_12.pdf
  22. [R2] Mid-Term Review of the Twelfth Malaysia Plan, 2021-2025: Main Document, Ministry of Economy, Malaysia (Economic Planning Unit), p. 146. https://rmke12.ekonomi.gov.my/ksp/storage/fileUpload/2023/09/2023091145_main_document_ksp_rmke_12.pdf
  23. [R4] Mid-Term Review of the Twelfth Malaysia Plan, 2021-2025: Main Document, Ministry of Economy, Malaysia (Economic Planning Unit), p. 172. https://rmke12.ekonomi.gov.my/ksp/storage/fileUpload/2023/09/2023091145_main_document_ksp_rmke_12.pdf

Generated by the Atlas AI Analyst from official DOSM statistics and the atlas models. Every factual sentence is cited; the validator removed 0 unsupported sentence(s). This draft has not yet been reviewed by a person.