Malaysia's population now stands at 32.4 mil, 63.5 per cent Muslims

By MINDERJEET KAUR

14 Feb 2022 01:42pm

Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob with Senior Minister Mustapa Mohamed at the launch of the MyCensus 2020 Report today. - Bernama Photo

SHAH ALAM: The latest Malaysian census shows the country's population now stands at 32.4 mil, and out of that 63.5 per cent are Muslims.

The Key Findings Population and Housing Census of Malaysia 2020 (MyCensus 2020) Report further shows 18.7 per cent are Buddhist, 9.1 per cent Christians, 6.1 per cent Hindus, 0.9 per cent others and 1.8 per cent with religion unknown.

It further shows 29.8 mil are citizens while the remainder 2.3 mil are non-citizens, and out of that 17 mil are males and 15.5 mil are females. About 55 per cent of the population are married, singles (34 per cent), widowed (3.8 per cent), divorced (1.6 per cent).

Top five populous states are Selangor (6.9 mil), Johor (4 mil), Sabah (3.42 mil), Sarawak (2.45 mil). Putrajaya has the youngest population with new born to 14 year olds representing 38 per cent, Kelantan (30 per cent), Terengganu (28.6 per cent), Labuan (27.3 per cent) and Pahang (26.7 per cent).

Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Perlis, Selangor and Sarawak have the highest number of working age group between 15 to 64 years old. Senior citizens are mostly in Perak, Kedah and Perlis.

Number of households has also increased to 8.2 million from 6.4 million since 2010.

In a statement released by the statistic's department, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob was quoted as saying that the data will be used to drive national socio-economic planning and development.

It will also be used to produce new national baseline data on social, economic and environmental statistical dimensions. It will also be used to implement Putrajaya's existing policies including Vision 2030 Common Prosperity, 12th Malaysia Plan, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Chief statistician Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the census include population, households, living quarters, sex, age, citizenship, ethnicity, religion and marital status.

Uzir said de jure approach was used where the information of each population is collected according to their place of residence.

The data was collected through e-Census, Computer-Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI), Computer Assisted Telephone Interview (CATI), Paper and Pen Interview (PAPI) and Drop Off & Pick Up (DOPU) interviews held from July 7 to Oct 31.

It involved various agencies at the federal and state levels including deputy commissioners, assistant commissioners and district superintendents.

In addition, nearly 8,000 supervisors and 40,000 enumerators have been appointed for the period 2017 to 2022.