Overview

INTRODUCTION

• The current population estimates of Malaysia and it states present the mid-year estimation of population that provides the key updates, trends and current population situation.

• The population estimates are based on Population and Housing Census 2010 which has taken into accounts births (fertility), deaths (mortality) and migration components.

• Mid-year Population Estimates are prepared using the bottom-up approach where the population is estimated according to state, single age, ethnic group and sex. The total population of Malaysia is the sum of all the state’s population estimates.

POPULATION SIZE AND GROWTH

Citizens growth rate remained stable at 1.1 per cent

Malaysia's population in 2020 is estimated at 32.7 million as compared to 32.5 million in 2019 with an annual growth rate of 0.4 per cent. The decline of population growth rate is attributed to the decrease in the number of Non-citizens from 3.1 million (2019) to 3.0 million (2020).

This is in line with the closure of our national borders and the return of foreigners to their respective countries during the Movement Control Order following the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. The growth rate of Citizens remained stable at 1.1 per cent with the population increasing from 29.4 million in 2019 to 29.7 million in 2020.

POPULATION BY SEX

Males outnumbered females

Overall, there were more males than females. In 2020, male population outnumbered the female with 16.8 million (males) and 15.9 million (females).

Males outnumbered females in both young aged (0-14 years) and working-age (15-64 years) groups. Meanwhile, the females dominate the old-age group (65 years and over) with 1.2 million compared to males follows closely at only 1.1 million in 2020. 

SEX RATIO

Males dominate females in 6th consecutive years (2015-2020)

The sex ratio for as a whole nation remained at 106 males per 100 females. The sex ratio of citizens is slightly decreased from for a five-year period with only 103 (males) : 100 (females) between 2010 till 2014 and 102 (males) : 100 (females) for a period from 2015-2020. In the case of Non-citizens, the sex ratio is quite higher than citizens with 156 males per 100 females in 2020 (refer table 1.1).

AGE STRUCTURE

Older age population in Malaysia increase each year – leading to an ageing nation

The percentage of population aged 0-14 years (young age) decreased to 23.3 per cent compared with 23.5 per cent in 2019. While the overall percentage of 15-64 years (working age) also decreased from 69.8 per cent in 2019 to 69.7 per cent in 2020. This is due to the reduction in the Non-citizens population, which mostly comprised of foreign workers. The percentage of population aged 65 years and over (old age) increased from 6.7 per cent to 7.0 per cent over the same period.

MAJOR ETHNIC GROUP COMPOSITION

Ethnic Indians and Chinese composition is declining

Out of the 29.7 million Citizens, the composition of Bumiputera rose 0.3 percentage points to record 69.6 per cent in 2020 when compared to 69.3 per cent in 2019. However, Chinese and Indians population declined to 22.6 per cent (2019: 22.8%) and 6.9 per cent (2019: 6.8%) while others remained at 1.0 per cent.

Release by:

DATO' SRI DR. MOHD UZIR MAHIDIN
CHIEF STATISTICIAN MALAYSIA
DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS, MALAYSIA
 DrUzir_Mahidin    Dr_Uzir

15 July 2020 

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