34,219,975 (2023 est.)
noun: Malaysian(s)
adjective: Malaysian
Bumiputera 63.8% (Malay 52.8% and indigenous peoples, including Orang Asli, Dayak, Anak Negeri, 11%), Chinese 20.6%, Indian 6%, other 0.6%, non-citizens 9% (2023 est.)
Bahasa Malaysia (official), English, Chinese (Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien, Hakka, Hainan, Foochow), Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Panjabi, Thai; note - Malaysia has 134 living languages - 112 indigenous languages and 22 non-indigenous languages; in East Malaysia, there are several indigenous languages; the most widely spoken are Iban and Kadazan
major-language sample(s):
Buku Fakta Dunia, sumber yang diperlukan untuk maklumat asas. (Bahasa Malaysia)
The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information.
Bahasa Malaysia audio sample:
Muslim (official) 63.5%, Buddhist 18.7%, Christian 9.1%, Hindu 6.1%, other (Confucianism, Taoism, other traditional Chinese religions) 0.9, none/unspecified 1.8% (2020 est.)
Malaysia’s multi-ethnic population consists of the bumiputera – Malays and other indigenous peoples – (62%), ethnic Chinese (21%), ethnic Indians (6%), and foreigners (10%). The majority of Malaysia’s ethnic Chinese and Indians trace their roots to the British colonialists’ recruitment of hundreds of thousands of Chinese and Indians as mine and plantation workers between the early-19th century and the 1930s. Most Malays have maintained their rural lifestyle, while the entrepreneurial Chinese have achieved greater wealth and economic dominance. In order to eradicate Malay poverty, the Malaysian Government in 1971 adopted policies that gave preference to the bumiputera in public university admissions, government jobs and contracts, and property ownership. Affirmative action continues to benefit well-off urban bumiputera but has done little to alleviate poverty for their more numerous rural counterparts. The policies have pushed ethnic Chinese and Indians to study at private or foreign universities (many do not return) and have created and sustained one of the world’s largest civil services, which is 85-90% Malay.
The country’s age structure has changed significantly since the 1960s, as fertility and mortality rates have declined. Malaysia’s total fertility rate (TFR) has dropped from 5 children per woman in 1970, to 3 in 1998, to 2.1 in 2015 as a result of increased educational attainment and labor participation among women, later marriages, increased use of contraception, and changes in family size preference related to urbanization. The TFR is higher among Malays, rural residents (who are mainly Malay), the poor, and the less-educated. Despite the reduced fertility rate, Malaysia’s population will continue to grow, albeit at a decreasing rate, for the next few decades because of its large number of reproductive-age women. The youth population has been shrinking, and the working-age population (15-64 year olds) has been growing steadily. Malaysia’s labor market has successfully absorbed the increasing number of job seekers, leading to sustained economic growth. However, the favorable age structure is changing, and around 2020, Malaysia will start to become a rapidly aging society. As the population ages, Malaysia will need to better educate and train its labor force, raise productivity, and continue to increase the number of women workers in order to further develop its economy.
More than 1.8 million Malaysians lived abroad as of 2015, including anywhere from 350,000 to 785,000 workers, more than half of whom have an advanced level of education. The vast majority of emigrants are ethnic Chinese, seeking better educational and job opportunities abroad because of institutionalized ethnic discrimination favoring the Malays. The primary destination country is nearby Singapore, followed by Bangladesh and Australia. Hundreds of thousands of Malaysians also commute across the causeway to Singapore daily for work.
Brain drain is an impediment to Malaysia’s goal of becoming a high-income country. The situation is compounded by a migrant inflow that is composed almost entirely of low-skilled laborers who work mainly in manufacturing, agriculture, and construction. Officially, Malaysia had about 1.8 million legal foreign workers as of mid-year 2017 – largely from Indonesia, Nepal, the Philippines, and Bangladesh – but as many as 3 to 4 million are estimated to be in the country illegally. Immigrants outnumber ethnic Indians and could supplant the ethnic Chinese as Malaysia’s second largest population group around 2035.
0-14 years: 22.46% (male 3,952,311/female 3,734,607)
15-64 years: 69.42% (male 12,198,930/female 11,556,399)
65 years and over: 8.12% (2023 est.) (male 1,345,767/female 1,431,961)
2023 population pyramid: 
total dependency ratio: 43.3
youth dependency ratio: 32.9
elderly dependency ratio: 10.4
potential support ratio: 9.6 (2021 est.)
total: 31.4 years (2023 est.)
male: 31.3 years
female: 31.5 years
1.01% (2023 est.)
14.4 births/1,000 population (2023 est.)
5.7 deaths/1,000 population (2023 est.)
1.5 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2023 est.)
a highly uneven distribution with over 80% of the population residing on the Malay Peninsula
urban population: 78.7% of total population (2023)
rate of urbanization: 1.87% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)
8.622 million KUALA LUMPUR (capital), 1.086 million Johor Bahru, 857,000 Ipoh (2023)
at birth: 1.07 male(s)/female
0-14 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.94 male(s)/female
total population: 1.05 male(s)/female (2023 est.)
21 deaths/100,000 live births (2020 est.)
total: 6.5 deaths/1,000 live births (2023 est.)
male: 6.9 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 6.1 deaths/1,000 live births
total population: 76.4 years (2023 est.)
male: 74.8 years
female: 78.1 years
1.74 children born/woman (2023 est.)
0.84 (2023 est.)
52.2% (2014)
improved: urban: 99.4% of population
rural: 90.7% of population
total: 97.5% of population
unimproved: urban: 0.6% of population
rural: 9.3% of population
total: 2.5% of population (2020 est.)
4.1% of GDP (2020)
1.54 physicians/1,000 population (2020)
1.9 beds/1,000 population (2017)
improved: urban: 99% of population
rural: N/A
total: N/A
unimproved: urban: 0.1% of population
rural: N/A
total: (2020 est.) NA
degree of risk: intermediate (2023)
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea
vectorborne diseases: dengue fever
water contact diseases: leptospirosis
15.6% (2016)
total: 0.64 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
beer: 0.48 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
wine: 0.04 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
spirits: 0.11 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
other alcohols: 0.01 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
total: 22.5% (2020 est.)
male: 43.8% (2020 est.)
female: 1.1% (2020 est.)
14.1% (2019)
59.3% (2023 est.)
3.9% of GDP (2020 est.)
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 95%
male: 96.2%
female: 93.6% (2019)
total: 13 years
male: 13 years
female: 14 years (2020)
NOTE: The information regarding Malaysia on this page is re-published from the 2024 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Malaysia 2024 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Malaysia 2024 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.
This page was last modified 04 May 24, Copyright © 2024 ITA all rights reserved.
