SHAH ALAM: About 41% of Employees Provident Fund (EPF) contributors working in the formal sector aged 55 and below have met the basic savings of RM240,000.
EPF chief executive officer Ahmad Zulqarnain Onn says this is the first time the adequacy rate has surpassed 40%.
“With the rebuilding of savings post-Covid, we saw adequacy reaching 41%. Adequacy is the number of members that has reached basic savings at their respective ages,” he said during the 2025 dividend announcement yesterday.
Meanwhile, voluntary contributions gained momentum in 2025, rising to RM19.2bil, while withdrawals declined by about 6%.
The fund’s i-Saraan programme was a key driver of voluntary contributions, with incentive recipients increasing 35.9% to 720,056 and total contributions rising 50.8% to RM4bil.
The number of Malaysian formal sector members contributing above statutory rates through i-Topup increased by 26% to 229,901.
Overall contributions grew by 12.3% to RM121.5bil, supported by higher membership, wage growth and sustained confidence in the EPF.
Ahmad Zulqarnain said 16% of total gross contributions were voluntary.
“We saw very strong voluntary contributions, both in value and, most importantly, in the number of contributors,” he said.
“A total of 364,000 members took advantage of i-Topup, growing 19% year-on-year.
“However, i-Topup is where you yourself increase your rate of contribution, either as the employee or via your employer.”
EPF membership grew to 18.1 million with active members increasing to 10.6 million, improving the active-to-inactive ratio to 59:41.
New registrations remained robust, with 2.8 million new members and 89,649 new employers, bringing total active employers to 640,391.
Ahmad Zulqarnain attributed the increase in membership to the inclusion of 1.5 million foreign national employees as contributors.
