Malaysia's low-income families worse off than in 2020: Report

Unicef finds eight in 10 needy families in KL struggle to earn enough to meet basic needs

- Azril Annuar

Several times a month, Ms Izzaty Nabella Lau is unable to put enough food on the table for her three children, let alone send her eldest daughter to primary school, due to the rising cost of living in Malaysia.

"After my ex-husband left us, we have nothing. I need to stay home to look after the kids," said the 24year-old, who lives in a low-cost flat known by its Malay acronym, PPR.

The couple divorced in 2023.

"My family is surviving through whatever my father and my two younger brothers can spare for us," she told The Straits Times. She also has to support an older brother who cannot work because of severe gout.

Ms Lau lives in a three-bedroom, 645 sq ft flat, in a household of seven at Pantai Ria PPR housing estate in Kuala Lumpur. The flat belongs to her father, and they have been living there since 2007.

A United Nations report on Malaysia's low-income households found that eight in 10 families living in PPR flats in the capital city struggle to generate adequate income to meet their basic needs.

The May 8 report released by the UN Children's Fund (Unicef) polled 755 households across 16 PPR estates in KL from Oct 14 to Nov 16, 2023.

The "Living on the Edge" report also found that 90 per cent of these families are grappling with the impact of the soaring cost of living, especially food prices.

In comparison, Unicef's "Families on the Edge" report published in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic found that seven out of 10 households in the same category, living in KL, faced these difficulties.

Two in 10 respondents cited time constraints and the affordability of fast food as obstacles to providing their children with nutritious meals.

The latest report said: "Dietary habits have undergone notable changes, characterised by increased consumption of eggs, rice and instant noodles.