Population:
23,092,940 (July 2003 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 33.7% (male 4,001,507; female 3,777,896)
15-64 years: 61.9% (male 7,163,252; female 7,131,745)
65 years and over: 4.4% (male 447,230; female 571,310) (2003 est.)
Median age:
total: 23.6 years
male: 23 years
female: 24.3 years (2002)
Population growth rate:
1.86% (2003 est.)
Birth rate:
23.7 births/1,000 population (2003 est.)
Death rate:
5.12 deaths/1,000 population (2003 est.)
Net migration rate:
0 migrant(s)/1,000 population
note: does not reflect net flow of an unknown number of illegal
immigrants from other countries in the region (2003 est.)
Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.07 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.78 male(s)/female
total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2003 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
total: 19 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 15.83 deaths/1,000 live births (2003 est.)
male: 21.97 deaths/1,000 live births
Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 71.67 years
male: 69.01 years
female: 74.51 years (2003 est.)
Total fertility rate:
3.13 children born/woman (2003 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
0.4% (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
42,000 (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths:
2,500 (2001 est.)
Nationality:
noun: Malaysian(s)
adjective: Malaysian
Ethnic groups:
Malay and other indigenous 58%, Chinese 24%, Indian 8%, others 10%
(2000)
Religions:
Muslim, Buddhist, Daoist, Hindu, Christian, Sikh; note - in
addition, Shamanism is practiced in East Malaysia
Languages:
Bahasa Melayu (official), English, Chinese dialects (Cantonese,
Mandarin, Hokkien, Hakka, Hainan, Foochow), Tamil, Telugu,
Malayalam, Panjabi, Thai; note - in addition, in East Malaysia
several indigenous languages are spoken, the largest are Iban and
Kadazan
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 88.9%
male: 92.4%
female: 85.4% (2003 est.)