Demographics of Malaysia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The population of Malaysia as of 2006 is estimated to be 26,640,000.[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 Bumiputra groups make up 65% of the population, Chinese 26%, and Indian 8%[3]. Population distribution is uneven, with some 20 million residents concentrated in the lowlands of Peninsular Malaysia, an area slightly smaller than the State of Michigan in the U.S.
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[edit] Ethnicity
[edit] 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.
[edit] Other Bumiputras
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 bumiputra 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 aboriginal people 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.
[edit] Non-Bumiputras
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 Hindu 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 Bumiputra. 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.
Twenty largest ethnolinguistic groups in Malaysia are as follows[4]
Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad in his own blog www.chedet.com indicating:
| “ | Because of the refusal of the descendants of migrants from China and India to be assimilated by the indigenous people we have to accept the retention of the identity of Malaysian citizens of Chinese and Indian origin. The people of Indonesian origin chose to be assimilated by the indigenous people, so they don’t constitute a separate entity. Multi-racial countries are usually unstable. Racial conflicts occur frequently. If Malaysia is to avoid racial conflicts it must try to reduce the differences between the different races.
We cannot change ethnicity. So we have to accept the ethnic differences. Religious differences also cannot be changed. |
” |
| Group | Total |
| Malay, Peninsular[5] | 9,041,091 |
| Han Chinese, Hokkien | 1,848,211 |
| Tamil | 1,743,922 |
| Han Chinese, Hakka | 1,679,027 |
| Han Chinese, Cantonese | 1,355,541 |
| Banjar Malay | 1,237,615 |
| Han Chinese, Teochew | 974,573 |
| Han Chinese, Mandarin | 958,467 |
| Minangkabau | 874,536 |
| Indonesian | 772,558 |
| Iban | 666,034 |
| Filipino | 442,933 |
| Han Chinese, Hainanese | 380,781 |
| Han Chinese, Min Bei | 373,337 |
| Malay, East Malaysia | 271,979 |
| Han Chinese, Min Dong | 249,413 |
| Straits Chinese | 236,918 |
| Nepalese | 217,587 |
| Tausug | 201,797 |
| Dusun, Central | 191,146 |
[edit] Citizenship
- Noun: Malaysian(s)
- Adjective: Malaysian
Not to be confused with Malay, which is a reference to ethnicity.
[edit] Religions
Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Christianity are the main religions practiced in Malaysia. Other 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%
- Further information: Religion in Malaysia
- See also: Animism in Malaysia
[edit] 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) ; 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.
[edit] Literacy
- Definition: age 15 and over can read and write
- total population: 88.7%
- male: 92%
- female: 85.4% (2002)
[edit] Demographic trends and key rates
[edit] Population distribution by states and territories
| State | Population | Area (sq km) | Pop. density | Urban pop.(%) | Bumiputra (%) | Chinese (%) | Indian (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Selangor | 4,188,876 | 7960 | 526 | 87.6 | 53.5 | 30.7 | 14.6 |
| Johor | 2,740,625 | 18987 | 144 | 65.2 | 57.1 | 35.4 | 6.9 |
| Sabah | 2,603,485 | 73619 | 35 | 48.0 | 80.5 | 13.2 | 0.5 |
| Sarawak | 2,071,506 | 124450 | 17 | 48.1 | 72.9 | 26.7 | 0.2 |
| Perak | 2,051,236 | 21005 | 98 | 58.7 | 54.7 | 32.0 | 13.0 |
| Kedah | 1,649,756 | 9425 | 175 | 39.3 | 76.6 | 14.9 | 7.1 |
| FT Kuala Lumpur | 1,379,310 | 243 | 5676 | 100.0 | 43.6 | 43.5 | 11.4 |
| Penang | 1,313,449 | 1031 | 1274 | 80.1 | 42.5 | 46.5 | 10.6 |
| Kelantan | 1,313,014 | 15024 | 87 | 34.2 | 95.0 | 3.8 | 0.3 |
| Pahang | 1,288,376 | 35965 | 36 | 42.0 | 76.8 | 17.7 | 5.0 |
| Terengganu | 898,825 | 12955 | 69 | 48.7 | 96.8 | 2.8 | 0.2 |
| Negeri Sembilan | 859,924 | 6644 | 129 | 53.4 | 57.9 | 25.6 | 16.0 |
| Malacca | 635,791 | 1652 | 385 | 67.2 | 63.8 | 29.1 | 6.5 |
| Perlis | 204,450 | 795 | 257 | 34.3 | 85.5 | 10.3 | 1.3 |
| FT Labuan | 76,067 | 92 | 827 | 77.7 | 79.6 | 15.8 | 1.3 |
| FT Putrajaya | 45,000 | 148 | 304 | 100.0 | 94.8 | 1.8 | 2.7 |
Source: National Census 2000 [7], Department of Statistics Malaysia. Putrajaya data is for 2004.
[edit] Population age distribution trends for 2002-2006
| Year | < 15 Years (%) | 15 - 64 Years (%) | > 64 Years (%) | Population (in millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 33.5 | 62.5 | 4.1 | - |
| 2003 | 33.2 | 62.7 | 4.1 | - |
| 2004 | 32.9 | 62.9 | 4.2 | 25.58 |
| 2005 | 32.6 | 63.1 | 4.3 | 26.13 |
| 2006 | 32.4 | 63.3 | 4.3 | 26.64 |
Data from January 2007[8]
[edit] 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.
[edit] Ancestries of Malays
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The factual accuracy of this section is disputed. Please see the relevant discussion on the talk page.(April 2008) |
Malaysian Malays are mixed people of various ancestries. Many have different ancestries from all over the world. It is not a weird thing since Malaysia is located at the crossroad of the world, and Malaysian Malay is the guardian and holds the key to the Strait of Malacca.
| Ancestry Claimed | Population |
|---|---|
| Acehnese | 20,000 - 1,000,000 |
| Arab | 500,000 - 1,000,000 |
| Banjarese | 3,000,000 |
| Bugis | 1,284,000-7,500,007 |
| Cham | 10,000 - 100,000 |
| Chinese | 217,100 - 500,000 |
| Indian | 200,000 - 1,000,000 |
| Javanese | 1,283,946 - 3,000,000 |
| Minangkabau | 300,000 - 1,000,000 |
| Turkish | 300,000 |
| Vietnamese | 200,000 - 1,000,000 |
[edit] Notes
- ^ "Key statistics", Department of Statistics, Malaysia.
- ^ "Key data (2006)", Department of Statistics, Malaysia.
- ^ Census of Population and Housing Malaysia 2000, Dept of Statistics Malaysia. [1]
- ^ Joshua Project database for Malaysia
- ^ Malay, Peninsular together with Orang Pantai Timur in Joshua Project listing
- ^ "Population And Housing Census 2000 (Press statement)", Department of Statistics, Malaysia. Accessed April 2, 2007.
- ^ 6 November 2001 - National Census 2000, Malaysia
- ^ 24 January 2007 - Statistics Department, Malaysia - Population by age group
- ^ 22 Januari 1990 - National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, United States
- ^ 9 February 2007 - Statistics Department, Malaysia - Vital statistics
- ^ 9 February 2007 - Statistics Department, Malaysia - Demographic key rates
[edit] External links
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