Malaysia’s population stands at 32.7 million

PUTRAJAYA: The population in Malaysia this year is estimated to be at 32.7 million, around 100,000 more than the 32.6 million people last year with an annual growth rate of 0.2%.

During the release of the Current Population Estimates 2022 report, chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the declining growth rate was due to the lower number of foreigners – from 2.6 million in 2021 to 2.4 million this year.

“The lower number of non-citizens was due to restrictions on international travel by countries during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021,” he said in a statement yesterday, Bernama reported.

He said the number of Malaysians rose from 30 million in 2021 to 30.2 million this year, with the growth rate slowing from 0.8% to 0.7% in the same period.

Malaysians now make up 92.6% of the total population, an increase of 0.5 percentage points compared to 92.1% in 2021.

The composition of the population between the ages of 0 and 14 – the young – in 2022 decreased to 23.2% compared to 23.6% in 2021, while that of those aged between 15 and 64 (working age) increased from 69.4% in 2021 to 69.5% in 2022, he added.