32.6 million people in the country

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia’s population this year is estimated at 32.6 million, up from 32.4 million last year, according to the Malaysian Statistics Department.

Of the total, 29.4 million are citizens and 3.2 million non-citizens, said Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin, in a statement yesterday.

On the sex ratio, there are 107 males per 100 females, with the male population at 16.8 million, while the female population is 15.8 million, he said.

The composition of the population age from 0 to 14 (young age) in 2019 dropped to 23.3% from 23.8% last year, while the percentage for those aged 65 and above (old age) rose to 6.7% from 6.5% last year.

Based on the National Senior Citizens’ Policy, the ageing population occurs when the percentage of senior citizens or those aged 60 and above reached 15 per cent of the total population, he said.

He said the statistics for this year showed a rise in the percentage of those aged 60 and above, at 10.3%, compared with 10% last year.

“Malaysia is expected to experience an ageing population in 2030 with the percentage of people aged 60 and above at 15.3%,” he said.

On the population composition based on states, Mohd Uzir said 20% of the total population are in Selangor, followed by Sabah (12%) and Johor (11.6%).

The bumiputra population recorded an increase of 0.2% to 69.3%, from 69.1% in 2018, while the Chinese ethnic dropped to 22.8% from 23%.

The Indian and others remained at 6.9% and 1%, respectively, he added. — Bernama