Malaysia's estimated population rises to 32.7m
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Malaysia is increasingly headed towards being an ageing nation, Chief Statistician Mohd Uzir Mahidin said. The percentage of its population aged 65 years and over rose from 6.7 per cent last year to 7 per cent. Meanwhile, the percentage of the population aged up to 14 years decreased to 23.3 per cent compared with 23.5 per cent last year.
PHOTO: BERNAMA
PETALING JAYA • Malaysia's population this year is estimated to have grown to 32.7 million, compared with 32.5 million last year, the country's Chief Statistician Mohd Uzir Mahidin said.
The number of non-citizens in the total population was three million this year, slightly lower than the 3.1 million last year.
"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 period following the Covid-19 pandemic," he said when presenting the government's findings in an online press conference on Wednesday.
The non-citizens are believed to be mostly immigrant workers from Indonesia and southern Filipinos residing in Sabah state.
"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," Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir said.
Malaysia is increasingly headed towards being an ageing nation, he said, with the percentage of the population aged up to 14 years decreasing to 23.3 per cent compared with 23.5 per cent last year.
The overall percentage of those in the 15-64 age group, or the working age group, also decreased from 69.8 per cent last year to 69.7 per cent.
Mr Mohd Uzir said this was due to the reduction in the size of the country's non-citizen population, which mainly comprised foreign workers.
The percentage of the Malaysian population aged 65 years and over increased from 6.7 per cent to 7 per cent over the same period, he said.
At 16.8 million, males continue to outnumber the 15.9 million females, with the gender ratio for the nation remaining at 106 males to 100 females this year.
Ethnic Indians and Chinese continued to show a decline in the population, while of the 29.7 million citizens, the percentage of bumiputeras (Malays and other indigenous races) rose by 0.3 percentage point to 69.6 per cent, compared with 69.3 per cent last year.
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PERCENTAGE OF POPULATION BY AGE GROUP
Up to 14 years old 23.3%
15-64 years old 69.7%
65 years old and over 7%
"Chinese and Indian populations declined", he said, with the former at 22.6 per cent this year compared with 22.8 per cent in 2019, and 6.8 per cent compared with 6.9 per cent for the latter.
"Others remained at 1 per cent," he said.
THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
