Demographics of Malaysia
The demographics of Malaysia are represented by the multiple ethnic groups that exist in the country. Malaysia's population, according to the 2010 census, is 28,334,000 including non-citizens, which makes it the 42nd most populated country in the world. Of these, 5.72 million live in East Malaysia and 22.5 million live in Peninsular Malaysia. The population distribution is uneven, with some 79% of its citizens concentrated in Peninsular Malaysia, which has an area of 131,598 square kilometres (50,810.27 sq mi), constituting under 40% of the total area of Malaysia.
| Demographics of Malaysia | |
|---|---|
Population pyramid of Malaysia in 2020 | |
| Population | 33,871,431 (2022 est.) |
| Growth rate | 1.03% (2023 est.) |
| Birth rate | 14.55 births/1,000 population (2022 est.) |
| Death rate | 5.69 deaths/1,000 population (2022 est.) |
| Life expectancy | 76.13 years |
| • male | 74.5 years |
| • female | 77.87 years |
| Fertility rate | 1.75 children born/woman (2022 est.) |
| Infant mortality rate | 6.59 deaths/1,000 live births |
| Net migration rate | 1.48 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2022 est.) |
| Age structure | |
| 0–14 years | 22.46% |
| 15–64 years | 69.42% |
| 65 and over | 8.12% |
| Sex ratio | |
| Total | 1.05 male(s)/female (2022 est.) |
| At birth | 1.07 male(s)/female |
| Under 15 | 1.06 male(s)/female |
| 65 and over | 1.14 male(s)/female |
| Nationality | |
| Nationality | Malaysian |
| Major ethnic | Bumiputera (69.9%) |
| Minor ethnic |
|
| Language | |
| Official | Malay |
The Malaysian population is growing at a rate of 1.94% per annum as of 2017. According to latest projection of the 2010 census, the fertility rates of the 3 largest Malaysian groups are as follows: Malay/Bumiputera: 2.4 children per woman, Chinese: 1.4 children per woman and Indian: 1.8 children per woman. Malay fertility rates are 40% higher than Malaysian Indians and 56% higher than Malaysian Chinese. Population projections in 2017 show that the Malays and Bumiputeras comprised a total of 68.8% of the total population, Chinese 23.2% and Indians 7.0%. The Chinese population has shrunk proportionally from 1957, when it was about 40% of Malaya, although in absolute numbers they have increased around threefold by 2017 in Malaysia (2.4 million in 1957 to 6.6 million in 2017, the later figure includes East Malaysia) but have been dwarfed by the fivefold increase of Malays (from around 3.1 million in 1957 to 15.5 million in 2017).