Community suitability of Sabah, Malaysia
Moderately suitable confidence B · live score 64
73
best land · p90
57%
good land
—
one block
How each domain holds up
Legal & sovereignty 66
Governance, safety & tenure 64
Economy & cost 99
Society, freedom & health 86
Land & water 50
Climate, growing & hazards 77
Autonomy & access 23
Where it pushes back
Water availability & qualityAccessibilityGrowing conditions
Within Sabah — 22 sub-regions
Estimated finer-grained reads from the same open data. Phase-1, not yet verified.
Semporna
strongest Economy & cost (99) ·
weakest Land & water (61)
pushes back: Water availability & quality
Moderately suitable 79
Tuaran
strongest Economy & cost (99) ·
weakest Land & water (53)
pushes back: Water availability & quality
Moderately suitable 77
Kota Belud
strongest Economy & cost (99) ·
weakest Land & water (54)
pushes back: Water availability & quality
Moderately suitable 76
Papar
strongest Economy & cost (99) ·
weakest Land & water (51)
pushes back: Water availability & quality
Moderately suitable 75
Tambunan
strongest Economy & cost (99) ·
weakest Autonomy & access (40)
pushes back: Water availability & quality
Moderately suitable 74
Penampang
pushes back: Water availability & quality
Moderately suitable 73
Beaufort
pushes back: Water availability & quality
Moderately suitable 72
Keningau
pushes back: Accessibility
Moderately suitable 72
Kota Marud
pushes back: Water availability & quality
Moderately suitable 69
Ranau
pushes back: Water availability & quality
Moderately suitable 69
Tawau
pushes back: Water availability & quality
Moderately suitable 69
Lahad Datu
pushes back: Water availability & quality
Moderately suitable 68
Kota Kinabalu
pushes back: Water availability & quality
Moderately suitable 67
Kudat
pushes back: Water availability & quality
Moderately suitable 66
Pitas
pushes back: Water availability & quality
Moderately suitable 66
Tenom
pushes back: Accessibility
Moderately suitable 65
Kinabatangan
pushes back: Water availability & quality
Moderately suitable 62
Sipitang
pushes back: Accessibility
Marginally suitable 57
Pensiangan
pushes back: Accessibility
Marginally suitable 41
excluded excl
excluded excl
excluded excl
Reading the land, criterion by criterion
Each signal names the open dataset behind it and how measured it is.
Legal entity & land frameworkcountry B OECD FDI RRI + manual
Education & schooling freedomcountry B HSLDA + UNESCO UIS
Seed & agricultural autonomycountry C UPOV membership proxy
Governance & corruptioncountry A World Bank WGI + Transparency CPI
Land tenure securitycountry A IPRI (de jure) + Prindex (de facto)
Business & economic viabilitycountry A World Bank B-READY, Heritage, Fraser
Cost of living, labour & landcountry A World Bank PPP, ILOSTAT
Monetary & capital sovereigntycountry A IMF/World Bank, Chinn-Ito
Personal freedomcountry A Cato/Fraser Human Freedom Index
Healthcare qualitycountry B WHO GHO
Disease / vector burden A Malaria Atlas + dengue Index P
Soil quality A SoilGrids (ISRIC)
Water availability & quality A WRI Aqueduct + AQUASTAT
Terrain & buildability A SRTM / NASADEM
Land cover & degradation A ESA WorldCover + Global Forest Watch
Biodiversity & alignment B Biodiversity Intactness Index
Climate & natural hazards A ThinkHazard + NASA FIRMS + USGS
Growing conditions A CHELSA / FAO GAEZ
Food & forage diversity B FAO GAEZ crop suitability + GLW
Coastal risk B Climate Central CoastalDEM
Energy potential A Global Solar Atlas + Global Wind Atlas
Natural building materials B SoilGrids clay + forest + geology
Environmental quality A SEDAC PM2.5 + VIIRS night-lights
Connectivity A Ookla + ITU (+ Starlink)
Accessibility A Malaria Atlas friction surface
Remoteness / surroundings A GPWv4 population density
Contamination legacy C Maus mining polygons + WRI power plants
Phase-1 desk screening
These are desk numbers from open data. Soil tests, water rights and the welcome of actual neighbours all wait for a visit — we'd rather say so than pretend.
Other regions in Malaysia
Compare nearby options, ranked by overall suitability.