Malaysia Is Becoming An Ageing Nation With A Decreasing Indian & Chinese Population

The Department of Statistics Malaysia released the nation’s current population estimates for 2020 yesterday (15th July) and there were quite a few statistics in the report that particularly stood out. Here are some of the interesting trends we’ve noticed:

1. Older age population in Malaysia, expected to increase every year

Percentage of population by age group.

As compared to 2019’s estimates, the percentage of the population aged 65 years and older increased from 6.7% to 7% this year. However, the population aged between 0-14 years dropped to 23.3% from 23.5% while the overall percentage of 15-64 years also dropped from 69.8% to 69.7%.

2. Population of ethnic Indians and Chinese are declining 

Distribution of population by ethnic group.

The composition of Bumiputera rose by 0.35 points to record a whopping majority of 69.6% of the population in 2020 as compared to 2019 when the group totalled at 69.3%. Meanwhile, the Chinese and Indian population is slowly seeing a decline. This year, the Chinese population stands at 22.6% as opposed to 22.8% last year whereas the Indian population has decreased from 6.9% in 2019 to 6.8% in 2020.

3. Males outnumber females for the sixth consecutive year (2015-2020) 

Population by sex.

If there’s one consistent statistic, it’s the sex ratio in Malaysia. Males outnumber females at 106:100. The sex ratio is higher with non-citizens as there are 156 males for every 100 females recorded in 2020. Currently, the male population stands at 16.8 million while the female population makes up 15.9 million of the population.

4. Non-citizen population decreases while citizens growth rate remains stable at 1.1% 

Current population estimates.

In 2020, Malaysia’s population is estimated to be 32.7 million as compared to 32.5 million in 2019, which puts our annual growth rate at 0.4%. There is however a decline in population growth rate of non-citizens from 3.1 million (2019) to 3.0 million (2020) due to the country’s closure of national borders and the return of foreigners to their respective countries during the MCO. Nonetheless, the growth rate of citizens remains at a steady 1.1% as the population increased from 29.4 million to 29.7 million in 2020.

Which of these statistics shocked you the most? Let u know in the comments!

Also read: M’sian Statistics Dept: Population of Men Surpasses Women in 2019 First Quarter Report