Anthropometric study of Malaysian youths - a case study in Universiti Teknologi Mara

Anthropometric data has become crucial when it comes to designing consumer products that involves ergonomic factors such as in health care and automotive areas. Most products are designed according to United States and European countries anthropometry data. The nearest anthropometry data we can refer to is Japan for Asian measurements. The continuous growth of youth population in Malaysia has created major demands in consumer products; hence it is important to have anthropometric data to represent this target user consumer. However, no specific data of young adults in Malaysia that could be obtained. The objectives of this research are to establish an anthropometric database for male youths (aged 19-24) and to analyze the data using descriptive statistic method in producing mean, percentiles and standard deviation (S.D) value for anthropometric variables. However for this study, youth samples are limited to Universiti Teknologi MARA(UiTM) students.The measuring process will be carried out according to Malaysian Standard 2003: MS ISO 7250:2003-Basic Measurement for Technological Design. [1] Result of the study will provide guidelines for product design and biomechanics applications that suit the Malaysian market and needs.