A further breakdown on Malaysia’s population estimates for 2020 in infographic format by the Department of Statistics, Malaysia
The number of people living in Malaysia for the year 2020 is estimated at 32.7 million.
According to the Department of Statistics, Malaysia (DOSM), this is an increase from 32.5 million last year, representing an annual growth rate of 0.4 percent.
The department notes that the decline in annual population growth rate is due to the decrease in the number of non-citizens from 3.1 million in 2019 to 3.0 million in 2020.
This could be attributed to the closure of Malaysia’s borders and the return of foreigners to their respective countries during the Movement Control Order (MCO) following the spread of COVID-19 across the globe.
However, the population growth rate for citizens remains stable at 1.1 percent, increasing from 29.4 million last year to 29.7 million this year.
DOSM’s release of Malaysia and its states’ current population estimates feature the mid-year estimation of the population, providing key updates, trends and the latest population scenario.
The population estimates are based on the Population and Housing Census 2010, which has taken into account births (fertility), deaths (mortality) and migration components.
DOSM prepares this mid-year estimates by using the bottom-up approach, in which the population is estimated in accordance to state, single age, ethnic group and sex. Malaysia’s total population is the sum of all its states’ population estimates.
