Chief statistician and 2020 Census commissioner Mohd Uzir Mahidin said based on census data, 95.2% or 26.6 million of the country’s residents are Malaysians while 4.8% or 1.4 million are foreigners.
Kelantan, Johor and Putrajaya are among the states and territories that have nearly completed the census and are in the process of verifying and confirming the information.
During an online media conference on the census today, Uzir said the state with the highest census completion rate is Johor with 104.9%.
This is followed by Putrajaya (101.3%), Negeri Sembilan (100.4%), Kuala Lumpur (99.2%), Perlis (95%) and Kelantan with 93.8%.
The remaining states are Perak (93.2%), Penang (92.8%), Selangor (91.2%), Melaka (88.2%), Terengganu (88.1%), Kedah (84.3%, Labuan (78.6%), Pahang (69.3%), Sarawak (66.6%) and Sabah (55.9%).
“Factors that might lead to states having rates of above 100% include receiving more census forms from our estimates and the movement or migration of residents from one area to another when the census was conducted,” he added.
Uzir said that states that did not achieve a high percentage was not due to uncooperative residents, but was instead due to the constraints faced during the pandemic, and natural disasters.
“The low percentage in Pahang is caused by the floods that hit the state. In Sabah and Sarawak, we had to slow down census work temporarily due to the spike in Covid-19 cases at the time.
“We have obtained the assistance of state governments and district officers to step up census operations that will end in a month’s time on Oct 31,” he said.
Uzir said the team is confident the remaining 4.6 million who have not completed the census would do so by the deadline.
“The duration for the 2020 Census has been longer, taking over a year compared with previous census operations which only took between three to four weeks.
“The longer duration has allowed the Malaysian statistics department to review the data in greater detail and to revisit residences or areas that have completed their census if needed,” he added.
Based on census data, Uzir said Malaysia’s gender ratio was 104 men to every 100 women, and the male population is currently 51.3% compared with the female population of 48.7%.
Out of the 28.1 million residents who have completed their census, 25.4% are aged under 15, 69.3% are of working age (15 to 64 years), and 5.4% are 65 years and above.