Malaysia’s population reached 34.3 million by the third quarter of 2025, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia, but the composition behind that number has been shifting steadily for decades along three separate axes at once: ethnicity, citizenship, and age. Bumiputera Malaysians, comprising ethnic Malays alongside the Indigenous peoples of Sabah, Sarawak, and the peninsula, made up 70.5 percent of Malaysia’s 30.9 million citizens in 2025, up from 70.3 percent the year before, while the ethnic Chinese share continued its multi-decade decline, falling to 22.2 percent from 22.4 percent.
These are not dramatic year-to-year swings. They are small, steady, and remarkably consistent movements that have compounded over nearly six decades since Malaysia’s 1970 New Economic Policy first began actively shaping the country’s ethnic and economic landscape, alongside a separate and equally consistent trend: Malaysia’s population is aging, its births are declining, and its citizen and non-citizen populations are moving at different speeds entirely.
Malaysia’s Population Is Changing on Several Demographic Fronts
Population at a Glance (Q3 2025)
- Total population: 34.3 million
- Citizen population: 30.9 million (approximately 90.1% of total, per Q3 2025 data)
- Non-citizen population: approximately 9.9% of total
- Population aged 0-14: 21.6%, down from 22.0% a year earlier
- Population aged 15-64 (working age): 70.4%
- Population aged 65 and older: 8.0%, up from 7.8% a year earlier
- Sex ratio: 110 males per 100 females overall; 102 males per 100 females among citizens specifically
- Total fertility rate: approximately 1.8, below the 2.1 replacement level
- Median age: approximately 30 years
Sources: Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM), Demographic Statistics Malaysia, First and Third Quarter 2025 releases.
Malaysia’s Ethnic Composition Has Changed Over Time
Malaysia’s official statistics track population by ethnicity within the citizen population using categories established under Malaysian law: Bumiputera (a term meaning “sons of the soil,” encompassing ethnic Malays and Indigenous peoples of Sabah, Sarawak, and the peninsula), Chinese, Indian, and Others. These are official statistical and constitutional categories specific to Malaysia’s legal and policy framework, not universal ethnographic classifications, and should be understood in that context.
The Bumiputera share of Malaysia’s citizen population has grown steadily and consistently over decades: from 68.8 percent in 2017 to 70.3 percent in 2024 and 70.5 percent in 2025. Over the same broad period, the Chinese Malaysian share has declined correspondingly, from 23.2 percent in 2017 to 22.4 percent in 2024 and 22.2 percent in 2025, a trend that a Malaysian demographic researcher, Voon Phin Keong of New Era University College, projected in earlier reporting could see the ethnic Chinese population share fall by as much as 20 percent by 2040 relative to its then-current level. The Indian Malaysian share has remained comparatively stable, holding at approximately 6.5 percent in recent years, down only marginally from around 7.0 percent in 2017, while Others have remained near 0.8 to 1.0 percent throughout.
Citizen Population by Ethnicity, Selected Years
| Year | Bumiputera | Chinese | Indian | Others |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 68.8% | 23.2% | 7.0% | 1.0% |
| 2024 | 70.3% | 22.4% | 6.6% | 0.8% |
| 2025 | 70.5% | 22.2% | 6.5% | 0.8% |
The primary driver of this gradual shift is differential fertility and population growth rates between ethnic groups rather than migration or policy directly reallocating population: DOSM birth statistics for the third quarter of 2025 show Malay babies accounting for 65.1 percent of live births, considerably above the Malay share of the total citizen population, while Chinese births made up only 4.3 percent of the total, well below their 22.2 percent population share, indicating a Chinese Malaysian fertility rate running substantially below the national average and below the Bumiputera fertility rate.
Malaysia’s 1970s-era New Economic Policy, which introduced affirmative action favoring Bumiputera in education, business, and public service, is also frequently cited by Malaysian demographers and researchers as a contributing factor, having encouraged some degree of emigration among educated or economically mobile Chinese Malaysians to destinations including Singapore and Australia, alongside a documented tendency toward smaller family sizes within the Chinese Malaysian community amid these economic pressures.
Within the Bumiputera category itself, the “Other Bumiputera” grouping, comprising Sabah and Sarawak’s diverse Indigenous communities, holds its own significant internal composition: as of Q3 2025 data, Sabah Bumiputera made up 55.3 percent of the Other Bumiputera category, including the Kadazan/Dusun, Bajau, and Murut peoples, while Sarawak Bumiputera made up 32.3 percent, including the Iban, Bidayuh, and Melanau peoples.
Migration Is Reshaping Malaysia’s Population
Non-citizens made up approximately 9.9 to 11 percent of Malaysia’s total population as of 2025, depending on the specific quarter and source, translating to roughly 3.3 to 3.8 million people. This non-citizen population, comprising foreign workers and their dependents, has grown at a notably different pace than the citizen population: DOSM data for 2025 showed non-citizen population growth of -0.5 percent for the year, actually shrinking slightly, compared to citizen population growth of 0.6 percent, a divergence that reflects both post-pandemic labor migration normalization and periodic Malaysian government enforcement actions targeting undocumented migrant workers.
Malaysia’s foreign workforce concentrates heavily in plantation agriculture, construction, manufacturing, and domestic service sectors, drawing predominantly from Indonesia, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Myanmar, among other source countries. A meaningful complication for precise measurement is that Malaysia, like several of its regional neighbors, hosts a substantial undocumented migrant population alongside its registered foreign workforce, meaning official non-citizen population figures likely understate the true number of foreign-born residents present in the country at any given time.
Fertility Decline Is Changing the Age Structure
Malaysia’s total fertility rate has fallen to approximately 1.8 children per woman, below the 2.1 replacement level, continuing a decades-long decline from considerably higher historical levels. Live births fell from 103,594 in the third quarter of 2024 to 95,469 in the third quarter of 2025, a decline of roughly 7.8 percent in a single year, part of a longer downward trend that DOSM data traces back to a peak of 135,670 quarterly births recorded in 2012.
Total recorded deaths, by contrast, have shown more modest year-to-year movement, meaning Malaysia’s overall natural population growth rate continues to narrow as the gap between births and deaths shrinks.
The population aged 0-14 fell from 22.0 percent in the third quarter of 2024 to 21.6 percent a year later, a small but consistent annual decline that mirrors the broader regional fertility transition documented throughout Southeast Asia in this series, from Vietnam’s more dramatic recent decline to Thailand’s decades-long earlier transition.
Malaysia Is Gradually Becoming Older
Malaysia’s population aged 65 and older rose from 7.8 percent in the third quarter of 2024 to 8.0 percent a year later, a gradual but steady climb that positions Malaysia as still comparatively young relative to Thailand’s roughly 20 percent elderly share or Japan’s nearly 29 percent, but clearly on the same long-term trajectory.
Perak state recorded the highest share of elderly population among Malaysia’s states, at 10.3 percent, reflecting a pattern common across many countries in this series where specific regions age faster than the national average, often due to a combination of lower regional fertility historically and out-migration of younger working-age residents toward more economically dynamic regions such as the Klang Valley.
Population Differences Across Malaysian States
Malaysia’s population is not evenly distributed across its 13 states and three federal territories. Selangor, surrounding Kuala Lumpur, is Malaysia’s most populous state and anchors the Klang Valley metropolitan region, which functions as the country’s dominant economic and demographic center.
Kuala Lumpur itself, as the federal capital, holds approximately 2 million residents in the city proper, with the wider Greater Kuala Lumpur metropolitan area, encompassing Selangor and surrounding areas, home to roughly 8 million people, making it by far Malaysia’s largest urban agglomeration.
Johor, bordering Singapore, and Penang, a historically significant trading port and now a major manufacturing and tourism hub, both maintain substantial populations with historically higher shares of Chinese Malaysian residents than the national average, reflecting historical settlement and trading patterns from the colonial era.
Sabah and Sarawak, Malaysia’s two states on the island of Borneo, maintain distinct ethnic compositions dominated by their respective Indigenous Bumiputera populations rather than the Malay and Chinese populations that dominate Peninsular Malaysia, and have historically shown somewhat different population growth dynamics tied to their more rural economic bases and, in Sabah’s case, a significant undocumented migrant population from neighboring Philippines and Indonesia.
Urbanization Is Concentrating Population and Economic Activity
Malaysia’s population growth, at approximately 1.1 percent annually in recent estimates, continues to concentrate disproportionately around the Klang Valley and other major urban centers including Johor Bahru and George Town, Penang, drawing both citizen internal migration and foreign labor migration toward these economic hubs.
This urbanization pattern is consistent with the broader regional trend observed across Southeast Asia in this series, from Jakarta’s dominance of Indonesia’s population geography to Bangkok’s concentration of Thai economic activity, though Malaysia’s multi-hub urban structure, spread across Kuala Lumpur, Johor Bahru, and Penang, is somewhat more geographically distributed than the single-city dominance seen in Indonesia or Thailand.
What Malaysia’s Changing Population Means for the Economy
Malaysia’s demographic trajectory presents a layered set of economic considerations distinct from the single-axis aging challenges facing Thailand or the citizen-minority labor dependency facing the Gulf states covered elsewhere in this series.
Malaysia must navigate gradual population aging, with the 65-and-older share still low by regional standards but climbing steadily, alongside a foreign workforce whose size has shown recent contraction rather than growth, complicating labor supply planning in sectors, particularly plantation agriculture and construction, that have historically relied heavily on migrant labor.
The persistent ethnic composition shift, while gradual, also carries implications for Malaysia’s long-running affirmative action framework and broader questions of economic and political representation that extend well beyond pure demographic measurement.
Malaysia’s Demographic Outlook
Malaysia’s population is projected to continue growing modestly, potentially reaching around 40 million by mid-century according to geographic and demographic compilations drawing on current growth trends, even as its growth rate continues slowing from the current roughly 1.1 percent annual pace.
The Bumiputera share of the citizen population is likely to continue its gradual increase given the persistent fertility differential documented in current birth statistics, while Malaysia’s elderly population share will continue climbing from its current 8.0 percent, though considerably more slowly than in already-aged societies such as Thailand or Japan, given Malaysia’s still-moderate fertility rate of approximately 1.8 relative to the ultra-low rates seen in some of its regional neighbors.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is Malaysia’s population by ethnicity?
As of 2025, Bumiputera Malaysians made up 70.5 percent of Malaysia’s citizen population, followed by Chinese Malaysians at 22.2 percent, Indian Malaysians at 6.5 percent, and Others at 0.8 percent, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia.
2. How many foreigners live in Malaysia?
Non-citizens made up approximately 9.9 to 11 percent of Malaysia’s total population of 34.3 million as of 2025, translating to roughly 3.3 to 3.8 million people, though this figure likely understates the true total given Malaysia’s substantial undocumented migrant population.
3. Is Malaysia’s population aging?
Yes, gradually. Malaysia’s population aged 65 and older rose from 7.8 percent to 8.0 percent between the third quarters of 2024 and 2025, a slow but steady increase that positions Malaysia well behind Thailand’s roughly 20 percent elderly share but on a similar long-term trajectory.
4. Which Malaysian state has the largest population?
Selangor, surrounding Kuala Lumpur and anchoring the Klang Valley metropolitan region, is Malaysia’s most populous state, while the wider Greater Kuala Lumpur metropolitan area is home to approximately 8 million people.
5. Is Malaysia’s fertility rate declining?
Yes. Malaysia’s total fertility rate stands at approximately 1.8 children per woman, below the 2.1 replacement level, with quarterly live births falling from 103,594 in the third quarter of 2024 to 95,469 in the third quarter of 2025, continuing a longer decline from a peak of 135,670 quarterly births in 2012.
6. How diverse is Malaysia’s population?
Malaysia’s citizen population is officially categorized into Bumiputera (70.5%), Chinese (22.2%), Indian (6.5%), and Others (0.8%), with the Bumiputera category itself encompassing significant internal diversity, including Malay and Indigenous Sabah and Sarawak communities such as the Kadazan/Dusun, Bajau, Iban, and Bidayuh peoples.
7. How is migration changing Malaysia?
Malaysia’s non-citizen population actually contracted slightly in 2025, with growth of -0.5 percent compared to 0.6 percent growth in the citizen population, reflecting post-pandemic labor market normalization and periodic government enforcement actions targeting undocumented migrant workers.
8. What will Malaysia’s population look like in 2050?
Malaysia’s population is projected to grow modestly toward approximately 40 million by mid-century, with continued gradual increases in the Bumiputera population share and in the elderly population share, though Malaysia’s aging trajectory is expected to remain considerably slower than that of Thailand or Japan given its moderate fertility rate of approximately 1.8.
Sources
- Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM), Current Population Estimates, Malaysia 2025.
- Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM), Demographic Statistics Malaysia, First Quarter 2025 and Third Quarter 2025 releases.
- Geography Worlds: Population of Malaysia 2025 compilation of DOSM data.
- Malay Mail, historical DOSM population estimate reporting, 2017.
- United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. World Population Prospects 2024 Revision.
