According to the latest data from the Department of Statistics Malaysia, the proportion of the Malaysian Chinese population in 2021 accounted for 23% of the total population, and it is expected to decline to 22.8% in 2022.
On July 29, 2022, Malaysia’s Department of Statistics released the “2022 Current Population Projection” report, which shows that the Chinese population has been decreasing by 0.2% annually, from 23.2% in 2020 to 23% in 2021, and it is projected to further decrease to 22.8% in 2022.
In contrast, the Malay population has shown a clear upward trend, increasing from 69.4% in 2020 to 69.6% in 2021, and it is expected to rise to 69.9% in 2022. The Indian population remained at 6.7% in both 2020 and 2021, and it is expected to decrease by 0.1% to 6.6% in 2022. The population of other ethnic groups has remained steady at 0.7%.
The report also indicates that Malaysia’s total population is expected to increase to 32.7 million in 2022, a growth of approximately 0.2% compared to 32.6 million in 2021 and 32.4 million in 2020. The number of Malaysian citizens is expected to increase by about 200,000 annually, rising from 29.8 million (91.7%) in 2020 to 30 million (92.1%) in 2021, and to 30.2 million (92.6%) in 2022. However, the number of non-citizens in Malaysia has significantly decreased, from 2.7 million (8.3%) in 2020 to 2.6 million (7.9%) in 2021, and it is expected to account for only 7.4% of the total population, or 2.4 million, in 2022.
Although Malaysia’s population continues to grow, the growth rate is slowing, from 0.8% in 2021 to 0.7% in 2022. This decline is mainly due to the significant reduction in the number of non-citizens, caused by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, which in turn led to a decrease in the overall population growth rate.
