Home > Demographics of Malaysia

Malays are by constitutional definition, Muslims. These people, combined with indigenous people (who are concentrated in Sabah and Sarawak) are denoted ' bumiputra'. Non-Malay indigenous groups make up more than half of Sarawak's population and about 66% of Sabah's. They are divided into dozens of ethnic groups, but they share some general patterns of living and culture. Until the 20th century, most practiced traditional beliefs, but many have become Christian or Muslim.

The second largest ethnic group is Malaysian Chinese who have historically played an important role in trade and business.

The "other" category includes Malaysians of, inter alia, European and Middle Eastern descent. Population distribution is uneven, with some 15 million residents concentrated in the lowlands of Peninsular Malaysia, an area slightly smaller than the State of Michigan in the U.S.

1 Population

21,793,293 (July 2000 est.)

• Age structure
  • 0-14 years: 35% (male 3,914,112; female 3,697,731)
  • 15-64 years: 61% (male 6,655,506; female 6,642,073)
  • 65 years and over: 4% (male 386,387; female 497,484) (2000 est.)

2 Statistics

• Population growth ratePopulation growth rate is a term used in demographics and ecology which refers to the rate at which the number of individuals in a population increases. Simple models of population growth include the exponential model and the logistic model. see also Popu: 2.01% (2000 est.)
• Birth rateIn demography, the crude birth rate of a population is the number of childbirths per 1000 persons per year. In some other contexts, birth rate may be taken to mean the average number of children born to each woman. 1 children per woman is considered a "ma: 25.3 births/1,000 population (2000 est.)
• Death rate: 5.25 deaths/1,000 population (2000 est.)
• 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
• Sex ratio:
  • at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
  • under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
  • 15-64 years: 1 male(s)/female
  • 65 years and over: 0.78 male(s)/female
  • total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2000 est.)
• Infant mortality rate: 20.96 deaths/1,000 live births (2000 est.)
• Life expectancyIn demography, life expectancy is a statistical measure of the average, or mathematical expected value, of the remaining lifetime of an individual in the given group. For non-human organisms the term lifespan is often used to indicate the average length o at birth:
  • total population: 70.83 years
  • male: 70.4 years (2002 est)
  • female:75.3 years (2002 est.)
• Total fertility rate: 3.29 children born/woman (2000 est.)