Census: Malaysia’s population grew by 1.7% over last decade to 32.4 million; 10.4% comprised those above 60, says PM

SHAH ALAM: The nation's ageing population has grown by 1.2 million over the last decade, said Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

"It was recorded that those above 60 years old made up 10.4% or 3.4 million of the population compared with 8% or 2.2 million in 2010," the Prime Minister said when launching the main findings of the Malaysia Census Report 2020 themed "Your Data, Our Future" on Monday (Feb 14).

He noted that this was opposite with regard to the population growth of young Malaysians.

"The population of young Malaysians had dropped from 27.6% in 2010 to 24% in 2020," he said.

Earlier, Ismail Sabri said that the nation's population grew by 1.7% over the last decade to 32.4 million.

This total, he added, comprised 29.8 million Malaysians and 2.7 million non-citizens.

"Of the 32.4 million, 52.3% were males while 47.7% were females, which is a ratio of 110 males to 100 females," he said.

He also said that the census revealed that the bumiputra community made up the largest population in the country, comprising 69.4%.

This was followed by the Chinese (23.2.%), Indian (6.7%) and others (0.7%), he added.

Also present at the event were Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Economy) Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed and Statistic Department chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin.

The national census was officially launched on July 7, 2020, but was disrupted due to the onset of the pandemic.

The national census, the sixth since 1963, was completed on Oct 31 last year with a total of 9.2 million households interviewed, mainly through online platforms.

Some 1,000 data of the census will be released in stages.