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This article is about the demographic features of the population of Malaysia, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

Demographics of Malaysia
Indicator	Rank	Measure
Economy
GDP (PPP) per capita	56th	$13,315
Unemployment rate	↓ 31st	3.10%*
CO 2 emissions	54th	7.05t†
Electricity consumption	32nd	78.72GWh
Economic Freedom	68th	2.98
Politics
Human Development Index	63rd	0.811
Political freedom	Unknown	4
Corruption (A higher score means less (perceived) corruption.)	↓ 43rd	5.1
Press freedom	124th	41.00
Society
Literacy Rate	94th	88.7%
Number of Internet users	23rd	14,904,000 users
E-readiness	34th	6.16±
Ease of Doing Business	24th	Unknown
Health
Life Expectancy	66th	74.2
Birth rate	94th	20.6‡
Fertility rate	79th	2.98††
Infant mortality	124th	16.39‡‡
Death rate	181st	4.5‡
HIV/AIDS rate	81st	0.40%
Quality-of-life	36th	6.608±
Notes
* including several non-sovereign entities ↓ indicates rank is in reverse order (e.g. 1st is lowest) † per capita ± score out of 10 ‡ per 1000 people †† per woman ‡‡ per 1000 live births

The demographics of Malaysia is represented by the multiple ethnic groups that exist in this country. Malaysia's population, as of September 2008, is estimated to be 27,730,000, which makes it the 43rd most populated country in the world.^[1] Of these, 5.44 million Malaysians live in East Malaysia and 21.2 million live in Peninsular Malaysia.^[2] Malaysian population continues to grow at a rate of 2.4% per annum; about 34% of the population is under the age of 15. Malays and other Bumiputera groups make up 65% of the population, Chinese 26%, Indians 8% and other unlisted ethnic groups 1%. ^[3]

Population distribution is uneven, with some 20 million residents concentrated in the lowlands of Peninsular Malaysia, which has an area of 131,598 square kilometers and is slightly smaller than the State of Louisiana in the United States.

Ethnicity

Malays

Malays are an ethnic group of Austronesian peoples predominantly inhabiting the Malay Peninsula and parts of Sumatra and Borneo. In Malaysia, they make up about half of the total population. The Malay ethnic group is distinct from the concept of a Malay race, which encompasses a wider group of people, including most of Indonesia and the Philippines. Malays in Malaysia are by definition Muslims, according to the constitution.

Other Bumiputeras

There are other peoples of Austronesian origins who make up the majority of the population in East Malaysia. Together with the Malays, they are collectively denoted as Bumiputras. Non-Malay bumiputera groups make up more than half of the state of Sarawak's population (of which 30% are Ibans), and close to 60% of Sabah's population (of which 18% are Kadazan-Dusuns, and 17% are Bajaus). They are divided into dozens of ethnic groups, but they share some general patterns of living and culture.

The indigenous peoples of Peninsular Malaysia are known as Orang Asli, which literally means "original person", is a catch all term for a variety of ancient peoples. They number about 60,000, and were the first inhabitants of the area. The most numerous of the Orang Asli are called Negritos and are related to native Papuans in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, and possibly even to aborigines in Australia.

The term "Orang Asli" is specifically used to describe indigenous peoples in Peninsular Malaysia only. Collectively, the indigenous groups of Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia is known as "Orang Asal".

Non-Bumiputeras

The second largest ethnic group is Chinese who makes up over a quarter of the population and have historically played an important role in trade and business. Indians made up of largely Tamils, comprise the third largest ethnic group at 8% of the population. There is a small minority crudely grouped and known as the "Others" category which includes Malaysians of, inter alia, European and Middle Eastern descent.

There is no general consensus on the ethnic profiling of children of mixed parentage. Some choose to be identified according to paternal ethnicity while others simply think that they fall in the "Others" category. The majority choose to identify as Malay as long as either parent is Malay, mainly due to the legal definition of Bumiputera. Children of Chinese-Indian parentage are known as Chindians. Though this is not an official category in National Census Data, it is an increasing number especially in urban areas.

Unlike counterparts in neighbouring Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines, many Malaysia Chinese and Indians, predominantly those in Peninsular Malaysia, are unable to assimilate or integrate into Bumiputera society due to various discriminatory policies practiced by the government.

Twenty largest ethnolinguistic groups in Malaysia are as follows^[4]

Distribution of the Bumiputera and Chinese population in Malaysia

Citizenship

• Noun: Malaysian(s)
• Adjective: Malaysian

Not to be confused with Malay, which is a reference to ethnicity.

Religions

Islam is the largest and the official religion, other large religions include Buddhism, Hinduism, and Christianity. Minority religions practiced here are Sikhism, Daoism, Confucianism, shamanism, and animism. The breakdown of the major religions are follows:^[6]

• Islam: 60.4% (see also Islam in Malaysia)
• Buddhism: 19.2% (see also Buddhism in Malaysia)
• Christianity: 9.1% (see also Christianity in Malaysia)
• Hindu: 6.3% (see also Hinduism in Malaysia)
• Confucianism/Taoism/other traditional Chinese religion: 2.6%
• Others: 2.4%

Languages

Malay (Bahasa Melayu) is the official language of the nation. Other languages spoken in the country are Chinese dialects (Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien, Hakka, Teochew, Hainan, Foochow), Indian languages (Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Punjabi) ; note - in addition, in East Malaysia several indigenous languages are spoken, the largest of which are Iban and Kadazan.

English is also widely spoken by Malaysians and it is also a compulsory subject in primary and secondary education. The English language is sometimes used in official correspondence and examinations is based on British English though there has been much American influence through television. However, English as spoken in Malaysia has been diverging, and is known locally as Manglish. Manglish is very similar to Singlish, the English spoken in Singapore, though the slang terms tend to be different.

Literacy

• Definition: age 15 and over can read and write
• total population: 88.7%
• male: 92%
• female: 85.4% (2002)

Demographic trends and key rates

Demographics of Malaysia, Data of FAO, year 2005 ; Number of inhabitants in thousands.

Population distribution by states and territories

Source: National Census 2000,^[7] Department of Statistics Malaysia. Putrajaya data is for 2004.

Population age distribution trends for 2002-2008

Data from January 2009^[8]

Key demographic rates

• Population growth rate^: 1.78% (2006 data)
• Age Structure^:
  • 0–14 years: 32.2% (male 4,118,086/female 3,884,403)
  • 15–64 years: 62.9% (male 7,838,166/female 7,785,833)
  • 65 years and over: 4.8% (male 526,967/female 667,831) (2007 est.)
• Crude birth rate^ for 2006 is around 18.7 and increase over 2005 (18.3) but well below the rates registered for 2004 (19.1)
• Crude death rate^ in 2006 stood at 4.5, relatively unchanged since 2004
• Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2000 est.)
  • note: does not reflect net flow of an unknown number of illegal immigrants from other countries in the region
• Human sex ratio:
  • at birth: 1.07 male(s)/female
  • under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
  • 15–64 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
  • 65 years and over: 0.79 male(s)/female
  • total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2005 est.)
• Infant mortality rate:^ 6.6 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 data)
• Life expectancy at birth:
  • total population: 74.05 years (at 1:1 male-to-female ratio)
  • male: ^ 71.8 years (2006 data)
  • female: ^ 76.3 years (2006 data)
• Total fertility rate: 2.98 children born/woman (2008 est.), 3.01 children born/woman (2007 est.), 3.04 children born/woman (2006 est.), 3.07 children born/woman (2005 est.) In 1987, Malays had a TFR of 4.51, Chinese had TFR of 2.25 and Indians had TFR of 2.77. The corresponding figures in Singapore was 2.16, 1.48 and 1.95.^[9]

Data for (^) obtained from Department of Statistics releases. See notes.^[10][11] All key rates sampled per 1000 of population.

Major cities

Kuala Lumpur is the capital and largest city of Malaysia. Although many executive and judicial branches of the federal government have moved to Putrajaya, Kuala Lumpur is the seat of the Parliament of Malaysia, making it the country's legislative capital. It is also the economic and business centre of the country, and is a primate city. Kuala Lumpur is also rated as a gamma world city, and is the only global city in Malaysia.

Subang Jaya and Klang are the second and third largest urban areas in Malaysia. The former is a higher education hub, containing many colleges and universities, and the latter houses Port Klang, the 16th busiest container port and 13th busiest transshipment port in the world. Johor Bahru is the second largest city and fourth largest urban area in the country. It is close to Singapore, and receives more than 60% of the country's annual 16 million foreign tourists. The city is also an important industrial, tourism and commercial hub for southern Malaysia.

Other major cities in Malaysia include Ipoh, Kota Kinabalu, Kuching, and George Town.

Ancestries

Malays

Malaysian Malays are mixed people of various ancestries. Many have different ancestries from all over the world.

Notes

External links

• Department of Statistics, Malaysia