Latest Statistics Reveal That Malaysia’s Population Now at 34 Million, 10% of Which are Foreigners

The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) recently released its latest report on Demographic Statistics that presents statistics of live births, deaths and population in the 1st quarter of 2024 in our country.

The report included several interesting findings, including how males continue to outnumber females in Malaysia and that the Malaysian population has reached 34 million.

The Malaysian population is estimated at 34 million, 10% of which are foreigners

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Chief Statistician of Malaysia, Dato’ Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said that the country’s population in Q1 2024 was estimated at 34 million, which is an increase of 2.3% compared to Q1 2023 (33.2 million).

He added that the population increase was contributed by the positive natural increase of citizens and higher non-citizens population in Malaysia.

Specifically, Mohd Uzir revealed that the total population comprised 30.6 million (90%) citizens and 3.4 million (10%) non-citizens. 

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Males continue to outnumber females in our country

Besides that, the report revealed that the male population in Malaysia has increased from 17.4 million in Q1 2023 to 17.8 million in Q1 2024.

During the same period, the female population rose from 15.8 million to 16.1 million.

The overall sex ratio of the population in Q1 2024 was 111 males per 100 females, while the sex ratio for citizens was 103 males to females.

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The Malaysian population based on ethnicities

In terms of ethnicity, Malay accounted for 57.9% (17.7 million) of the population in Q1 2024, a 0.1 million increase from Q1 2023.

Chinese accounted for 22.6% of the population Indians at 6.6% and Other Bumiputera at 12.2%.

Furthermore, Bumiputera Sabah comprised Kadazan/Dusun (2.1%), Bajau (1.8%) and Murut (0.3%).

Meanwhile, Bumiputera Sarawak comprised Iban (2.4%), Bidayuh (0.7%) and Melanau (0.4%).

So, what do you guys make of the latest population statistics for Q1 2024? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!

Also read: Study: M’sians are the 2nd Happiest People in Southeast Asia & Have 3rd Highest Life Expectancy