The population of Malaysia as of 2006 is estimated to be 26,640,000.^[1] Of these, 5.44 million Malaysians live in East Malaysia and 21.2 million live in Peninsular Malaysia.^[2] Malaysian population continues to grow at a rate of 2.4% per annum; about 34% of the population is under the age of 15. As of 2004, Malays made up an estimated 50.4% of the population, Chinese 23.7%, indigenous peoples 11%, Indian 7.1% and others 7.8%. [https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/my.html]

Malays

Malays originated in Yunnan of Southern China and had migrated to South East Asian countries where they split into several racial subgroups. Initially they were Hindus and Buddhists and had converted to Islam as did the neighbouring Indonesians. In Malaysia, Malays are by constitutional definition, according to Article 160 of the Malaysian Constitution, Muslims. These people, combined with indigenous peoples of Malayo-Polynesian origins (e.g. Kadazandusun, Iban, Dayak, Melanau, etc., mainly concentrated in Sabah and Sarawak) are denoted 'bumiputra'.

Other indigenous peoples

There are other indigenous, non-Malay peoples of Malayo-Polynesian origins (e.g. Kadazandusun, Iban, Dayak, Melanau, etc.) They are mainly concentrated in Sabah and Sarawak) and are also denoted as 'bumiputra'. Non-Malay indigenous groups make up more than half of Sarawak's population and about 66% of Sabah's. They are divided into dozens of ethnic groups, but they share some general patterns of living and culture. Until the 20th century, most practiced traditional beliefs, but many have become Christian or Muslim.There is concern by orang asli that they may not get their special privilege because the article 153 of the constitution did not include them as a bumiputra although people consider them to.

Minorities

The second largest ethnic group is Chinese who have historically played an important role in trade and business. Indians made up of largely Hindu Tamils, comprise the third largest ethnic group.

There is a small minority crudely grouped and known as the "Others" category which includes Malaysians of, inter alia, European and Middle Eastern descent. Population distribution is uneven, with some 15 million residents concentrated in the lowlands of Peninsular Malaysia, an area slightly smaller than the State of Michigan in the U.S.

There is no general consensus on the ethnic profiling of children of mixed parentage. Some choose to be identified according to paternal ethnicity while others simply think that they fall in the "Others" category. The majority choose to identify as Malay as long as either parent is Malay, mainly due to the legal definition of "Bumiputra". Children of Chinese-Indian parentage are known as Chindians. Though this is not an official category in National Census Data, it is an increasing number especially in urban areas.

Orang Asli

The indigenous people of Peninsular Malaysia are known as Orang Asli, which literally means "original person", is a catch all term for a variety of ancient peoples. They number about 60,000, 60 percent jungle dwellers and 40 percent village dwellers, and were the first inhabitants of the area. The most numerous of the Orang Asli are called Negritos and are related to native Papuans in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, and possibly even to aborigines in Australia and peoples of East Africa. They came about 40,000 years ago, and are nomadic. The next largest is the Senoi. Similar to hill tribes in Viet Nam, and are shifting cultivators. The rest are proto-Malays, from Sumatra, who arrived about 4000 years ago, and are similar in features to Malays. Some have been known to practice cannibalism and become violent upon sight of outsiders, although some who venture out into the towns and cities have been known to become assimilated with the Malays through marriage.

Demographic trends and key rates

Population distribution by states and territories

State	Population	Area (sq km)	Pop. density	Urban pop.(%)	Bumiputra (%)	Chinese (%)	Indian (%)
Selangor	4188876	7960	526	87.6	53.5	30.7	14.6
Johor	2740625	18987	144	65.2	57.1	35.4	6.9
Sabah	2603485	73619	35	48.0	80.5	13.2	0.5
Sarawak	2071506	124450	17	48.1	72.9	26.7	0.2
Perak	2051236	21005	98	58.7	54.7	32.0	13.0
Kedah	1649756	9425	175	39.3	76.6	14.9	7.1
FT Kuala Lumpur	1379310	243	5676	100.0	43.6	43.5	11.4
Penang	1313449	1031	1274	80.1	42.5	46.5	10.6
Kelantan	1313014	15024	87	34.2	95.0	3.8	0.3
Pahang	1288376	35965	36	42.0	76.8	17.7	5.0
Terengganu	898825	12955	69	48.7	96.8	2.8	0.2
Negeri Sembilan	859924	6644	129	53.4	57.9	25.6	16.0
Malacca	635791	1652	385	67.2	63.8	29.1	6.5
Perlis	204450	795	257	34.3	85.5	10.3	1.3
FT Labuan	76067	92	827	77.7	79.6	15.8	1.3
FT Putrajaya	45000	148	304	100.0	94.8	1.8	2.7

Source: National Census 2000 ^[3], Department of Statistics Malaysia. Putrajaya data is for 2004.

Population age distribution trends for 2002-2006

Year	< 15 Years (%)	15 - 64 Years (%)	> 64 Years (%)	Population (in millions)
2002	33.5	62.5	4.1	-
2003	33.2	62.7	4.1	-
2004	32.9	62.9	4.2	25.58
2005	32.6	63.1	4.3	26.13
2006	32.4	63.3	4.3	26.64

Data from January 2007^[4]

Key demographic rates

• Population growth rate^: 1.78% (2006 data)
• Crude birth rate^ for 2006 is around 18.7 and increase over 2005 (18.3) but well below the rates registered for 2004 (19.1)
• Crude death rate^ in 2006 stood at 4.5, relatively unchanged since 2004
• Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2000 est.)
• note: does not reflect net flow of an unknown number of illegal immigrants from other countries in the region
• Sex ratio:
• at birth: 1.07 male(s)/female
• under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
• 15-64 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
• 65 years and over: 0.79 male(s)/female
• total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2005 est.)
• Infant mortality rate:^ 6.6 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 data)
• Life expectancy at birth:
• total population: 74.05 years (at 1:1 male-to-female ratio)
• male: ^ 71.8 years (2006 data)
• female: ^ 76.3 years (2006 data)
• Total fertility rate: 3.07 children born/woman (2005 est.) In 1987, Malays had a TFR of 4.51, Chinese had TFR of 2.25 and Indians had TFR of 2.77. The corresponding figures in Singapore was 2.16, 1.48 and 1.95.^[5]

Data for (^) obtained from Department of Statistics releases. See notes^[6][7]. All key rates sampled per 1000 of population.

Nationality

• Noun: Malaysian(s)
• Adjective: Malaysian

Ethnic groups

Ethnolinguistics	Population (2005 CE)
Abai Sungai	500
African	1,000
Albanian	50
Anglo-American	11,000
Anglo-Australian	20,000
Anglo-New Zealander	1,210
Arab, Malay Speaking	400,000
Arab, Others	12,662
Arakanese	12,000
Bajau	203,320
Bajau, Bukit	1,140
Bajau, Kagayan	33,000
Bajau, West Coastal	52,000
Balau	8,980
Balinese	5,065
Banjarese	1,187,734
Bateq	700
Bengali, Bangladeshi	200,000
Bengali, Malaysian	101,840
Bidayuh	210,000
Bosniak	200
British	39,594
Buginese	718,435
Burmese	25,325
Butonese	15,195
Cham	10,000
Chechen	10
Chin,Myanmarese	15,000
Chinese, Baba	417,673
Chinese, Cantonese	1,376,386
Chinese, Fukienese	222,441
Chinese, Guangxi	186,211
Chinese, Hainanese	356,636
Chinese, Hakka	1,813,631
Chinese, Hokchiu	379,077
Chinese, Hokkien	2,021,000
Chinese, Hoklo	59,572
Chinese, Hsiang	70,446
Chinese, Hui	15,000
Chinese, Mandarin	973,207
Chinese, Min Bei	214,000
Chinese, Min Dong	253,248
Chinese, citizens of the People's Republic of China	172,972
Chinese, Pu Xian	75,974
Chinese, Teochew	989,559
Eurasian, Malayo-Portuguese	6,035
Eurasian, others	50,650
Filipino, Non Tagalog Speakers	645,783
German	2,431
Gujerati, Bania	Unknown
Gujerati, Bohra	1,000
Gujerati, Khoja	Unknown
Gujerati, Others	25,325
Hindi	50,560
Iban	650,000
Indian Citizen	114,174
Indonesian (Language)	253,248
Japanese	12,662
Javanese, Malay Speaking	1,214,931
Javanese, Others	785,069
Jew	10
Kadazan-Dusun	500,000
Kanarese	50,650
Kayan	75,000
Khmer	11,381
Malay, Bruneian	56,000
Malay, Cocos Islander	6,197
Malay, Malaccan	37,987
Malay, Negeri Sembilan	311,000
Malay, Peninsular, Eastern	2,100,000
Malay, Peninsular, Western	7,579,000
Malay, Riau	101,299
Malay, Sabahan	126,624
Malay, Sarawakian	259,000
Malay, Tioman Islander	50,650
Malayali	151,949
Melanau	34,080
Minangkabau	538,826
Nepali	208,000
Pashtun	5,065
Penan	10,000
Punjabi	101,299
Sindhi	25,325
Sinhalese	25,325
Tagalog	25,325
Tamil, Jaffna	23,000
Tamil, Others	1,798,062
Tausug	192,957
Telugu	101,299
Thai	25,325
Urdu	12,662
Vietnamese	103,000

% [https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/my.html#People]

Ancestries Claimed by Malaysian Malays

Malaysian Malays are mixed people of various ancestries. Many claims that they have different ancestries from all over Asia.

Ancestry Claimed	Population
Acehnese	20,000 - 1,000,000
Arab	500,000 - 1,000,000
Banjarese	3,000,000
Bugis	3,500,000
Cham	10,000 - 100,000
Chinese	217,100 - 500,000
Indian	200,000 - 1,000,000
Javanese	1,283,946 - 3,000,000
Minangkabau	300,000 - 1,000,000
Turkish	300,000
Vietnamese	200,000 - 1,000,000

Religions

Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Christianity are the main religions practiced in Malaysia. Other religions practiced here are Sikhism, Daoism, Confucianism, shamanism, and animism. The breakdown of the major religions are follows^[8]:

• Islam: 60.4% (see also Islam in Malaysia)
• Buddhism: 19.2% (see also Buddhism in Malaysia)
• Christianity: 9.1% (see also Christianity in Malaysia)
• Hindu: 6.3% (see also Hinduism in Malaysia)
• Confucianism/Taoism/other traditional Chinese religion: 2.6%
• Others: 2.4%

Further information: Religion in Malaysia

Languages

Malay (Bahasa Melayu) is the official language of the nation. Other languages spoken in the country are Chinese dialects (Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien, Hakka, Teochew, Hainan, Foochow), Indian languages (Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam) ; note - in addition, in East Malaysia several indigenous languages are spoken, the largest of which are Iban and Kadazan.

English is also widely spoken by Malaysians and it is also a compulsory subject in primary and secondary education. The English language is sometimes used in official correspondence and examinations is based on British English though there has been much American influence through television. However, English as spoken in Malaysia has been diverging, and is known locally as Manglish. Manglish is very similar to Singlish, the English spoken in Singapore, though the slang terms tend to be different.

Literacy

• Definition: age 15 and over can read and write
• total population: 88.7%
• male: 92%
• female: 85.4% (2002)

Notes

External links

• Department of Statistics, Malaysia

•  • [ e] Demographics of Asia
Sovereign states and other territories	Afghanistan Armenia Azerbaijan1 Bahrain Bangladesh Bhutan Brunei Cambodia China People's Republic of China (Hong Kong • Macau)] Republic of China (Taiwan) Cyprus Egypt1 Georgia1 India Indonesia1 Iran Iraq Israel (see also Palestinian territories) Japan Jordan Kazakhstan1 Korea (North Korea South Korea) Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Lebanon Malaysia Maldives Mongolia Myanmar Nepal Oman Pakistan Philippines Qatar Russia1 Saudi Arabia Singapore Sri Lanka Syria Tajikistan Thailand Timor-Leste (East Timor)1 Turkey1 Turkmenistan United Arab Emirates Uzbekistan Vietnam Yemen1
1Transcontinental nations

•  • [ e] Ethnic groups in Asia
Sovereign states and other territories	Afghanistan Armenia Azerbaijan1 Bahrain Bangladesh Bhutan Brunei Cambodia China People's Republic of China (Hong Kong • Macau)] Republic of China (Taiwan) Cyprus Egypt1 Georgia1 India Indonesia1 Iran Iraq Israel (see also Palestinian territories) Japan Jordan Kazakhstan1 Korea (North Korea South Korea) Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Lebanon Malaysia Maldives Mongolia Myanmar Nepal Oman Pakistan Philippines Qatar Russia1 Saudi Arabia Singapore Sri Lanka Syria Tajikistan Thailand Timor-Leste (East Timor)1 Turkey1 Turkmenistan United Arab Emirates Uzbekistan Vietnam Yemen1
1Transcontinental nations