SHAH ALAM: The total number of Employees Provident Fund (EPF) members reached 16.07 million people as of December last year.
According to a statement by EPF, there were 460,447 new member registrations recorded last year.
Of the total amount, 8.52 million people were active members, representing 50% of Malaysia’s 17.03 million labour force as at end 2023.
“The active member base remained constant with a 53%:47% of active-to-inactive member ratio as at December 2023, derived from the ratio of active members of 8.52 million against the total number of members at 16.07 million.
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“The positive increase in EPF’s active members over Malaysia’s total labour force was attributed to the EPF’s coverage expansion initiatives,” the statement read.
The number of i-Saraan participants had also increased by 31% (382,983) last year, from 291,743 in 2022.
i-Saraan allows workers in the informal sector or with no formal income to save for their retirement with the EPF.
“Overall, total contributions collected during 2023 increased to RM97.56bil, an improvement of 15% from 2022.
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“The increase reflects improvements in members’ financial capacity resulting from the progressive recovery of incomes, employment, and the economy. It also highlights the continuous trust in the EPF in safeguarding members’ savings,” it added.
Earlier, EPF announced a dividend rate of 5.5% for Conventional Savings for 2023, with the total payout amounting to RM50.3bil.
Meanwhile, the dividend rate for syariah savings was 5.4% with the payout totaling RM7.5bil.