Demographics of Malaysia - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Demographics of Malaysia
Indicator	Rank	Measure
Economy
GDP (PPP) per capita	56th	$13,315
Unemployment rate	↓ 31st	3.10%*
CO₂ emissions	54th	7.05t Tonne The tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI... ^†
Electricity consumption	32nd	78.72GWh Watt-hour The kilowatt hour, or kilowatt-hour, is a unit of energy equal to 1000 watt hours or 3.6 megajoules.For constant power, energy in watt hours is the product of power in watts and time in hours...
Economic Freedom Index of Economic Freedom The Index of Economic Freedom is a series of 10 economic measurements created by The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal. Its stated objective is to measure the degree of economic freedom in the world's nations....	68th	2.98
Politics
Human Development Index	63rd	0.811
Political freedom Freedom in the World 2006 Freedom in the World is a yearly survey and report by U.S.-based Freedom House that attempts to measure the degree of democracy and political freedom in every nation and significant disputed territories around the world.-Origin and use:...	Unknown	4
Corruption (A higher score means less (perceived) corruption.) Corruption Perceptions Index Since 1995, Transparency International publishes the Corruption Perceptions Index annually ranking countries "by their perceived levels of corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys." The CPI generally defines corruption as "the misuse of public power for private...	↓ 43rd	5.1
Press freedom	124th	41.00
Society
Literacy Rate	94th	88.7%
Number of Internet users	23rd	14,904,000 users
E-readiness E-readiness E-Readiness is the ability to use information and communication technologies to develop one's economy and to foster one's welfare.There are several benchmarking indices at the macro level, e.g., those calculated by the UNPAN, World Bank, Economist Intelligence Unit etc.Because what appear on the...	34th	6.16±
Ease of Doing Business Ease of Doing Business Index The Ease of Doing Business Index is an index created by the World Bank. Higher rankings indicate better, usually simpler, regulations for businesses and stronger protections of property rights...	24th	Unknown
Health
Life Expectancy	66th	74.2
Birth rate	94th	20.6^‡
Fertility rate	79th	2.98^††
Infant mortality	124th	16.39^‡‡
Death rate	181st	4.5^‡
HIV/AIDS rate	81st	0.40%
Quality-of-life Quality-of-life index The Economist Intelligence Unit’s quality-of-life index is based on a unique methodology that links the results of subjective life-satisfaction surveys to the objective determinants of quality of life across countries...	36th	6.608±
Notes
* including several non-sovereign entities ↓ indicates rank is in reverse order (e.g. 1st is lowest) ^† per capita ^± score out of 10 ^‡ per 1000 people ^†† per woman ^‡‡ per 1000 live births

The demographics of Malaysia are represented by the multiple ethnic groups that exist in this country. Malaysia's population, , is estimated to be 28,250,500, which makes it the 44th most populated country in the world. Of these, 5.72 million Malaysians live in East Malaysia

East Malaysia

East Malaysia, also known as Malaysian Borneo, is the part of Malaysia located on the island of Borneo. It consists of the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak, and the Federal Territory of Labuan. It lies to the east from Peninsular Malaysia , which is located on the Malay Peninsula. The two are...

and 22.5 million live in Peninsular Malaysia

Peninsular Malaysia

Peninsular Malaysia , also known as West Malaysia , is the part of Malaysia which lies on the Malay Peninsula. Its area is . It shares a land border with Thailand in the north. To the south is the island of Singapore. Across the Strait of Malacca to the west lies the island of Sumatra...

. The Malaysian population continues to grow at a rate of 2.4% per annum; about 34% of the population is under the age of 15. According to latest 2010 census, among the three largest Malaysian groups Malays and Bumiputera Fertility rates are at 2.8 children per woman, Chinese

Malaysian Chinese

Malaysian Chinese is a Malaysian of Chinese origin. Most are descendants of Chinese who arrived between the fifteenth and the mid-twentieth centuries. Within Malaysia, they are usually simply referred to as "Chinese" in all languages. The term Chinese Malaysian is also sometimes used to refer to...

1.8 children per woman, and Indians 2.0 children per woman. Malay fertility rates are 40% higher than Malay Indians and 56% higher than Malay Chinese. In 2010, the Malays were 60.3%, Chinese 22.9%, and the Indians 6.8% of the total population. The Chinese population has shrunk to half of its peak share from 1957 when it was 45% of Malaysia, although in absolute numbers they have multiplied more than threefold.

The population distribution is uneven, with some 20 million of 28 million citizens concentrated in Peninsular Malaysia

Peninsular Malaysia

, which has an area of 131598 sqkm.

Ethnicity

Malaysia's population comprises many ethnic groups. People of Austronesian origin

Austronesian people

The Austronesian-speaking peoples are various populations in Oceania and Southeast Asia that speak languages of the Austronesian family. They include Taiwanese aborigines; the majority ethnic groups of East Timor, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei, Madagascar, Micronesia, and Polynesia,...

make a slim majority of the population, and are known as the Bumiputra

Bumiputra

Bumiputera or Bumiputra is a Malay term widely used in Malaysia, embracing indigenous people of the Malay Archipelago. The term comes from the Sanskrit word bhumiputra, which can be translated literally as "son of land"...

s. Large Chinese and Indian minorities also exist. Malays, as bumiputra, see Malaysia as their land, and since race riots in 1969 bumiputra have been especially privileged in Malaysia. However, since then racial stability has prevailed, if not full harmony. Mixed marriages are on the rise. The twenty largest ethnolinguistic groups in Malaysia are as follows:

Group	Total
Malay, Peninsular Peninsular Malaysia Peninsular Malaysia , also known as West Malaysia , is the part of Malaysia which lies on the Malay Peninsula. Its area is . It shares a land border with Thailand in the north. To the south is the island of Singapore. Across the Strait of Malacca to the west lies the island of Sumatra...	9,041,091
Han Chinese Han Chinese Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the... , Hokkien Min Nan The Southern Min languages, or Min Nan , are a family of Chinese languages spoken in southern Fujian, eastern Guangdong, Hainan, Taiwan, and southern Zhejiang provinces of China, and by descendants of emigrants from these areas in diaspora....	1,848,211
Tamil Tamil people Tamil people , also called Tamils or Tamilians, are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, India and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. Historic and post 15th century emigrant communities are also found across the world, notably Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, South Africa, Australia, Canada,...	1,743,922
Han Chinese, Hakka Hakka people The Hakka , sometimes Hakka Han, are Han Chinese who speak the Hakka language and have links to the provincial areas of Guangdong, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan and Fujian in China....	1,679,027
Han Chinese, Cantonese Cantonese people The Cantonese people are Han people whose ancestral homes are in Guangdong, China. The term "Cantonese people" would then be synonymous with the Bun Dei sub-ethnic group, and is sometimes known as Gwong Fu Jan for this narrower definition...	1,355,541
Banjar Banjar people The Banjar are a coastal, native ethnic group that settled in Tanah Laut and Banjarmasin in the south and in Hulu Sungai in the north of South Kalimantan, Indonesia, the second largest city on the island of Borneo. Several centuries ago, some of them had travelled to many places in the Malay... Malay	1,237,615
Han Chinese, Teochew Teochew people The Chaozhou people are Han people, native to the Chaoshan region of eastern Guangdong province of China who speak the Teochew dialect. Today, most Teochew people live outside China in Southeast Asia especially in Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia. They can also be found almost anywhere in the...	974,573
Han Chinese, Mandarin	958,467
Minangkabau	874,536
Indonesian	772,558
Iban Iban people The Ibans are a branch of the Dayak peoples of Borneo. In Malaysia, most Ibans are located in Sarawak, a small portion in Sabah and some in west Malaysia. They were formerly known during the colonial period by the British as Sea Dayaks. Ibans were renowned for practising headhunting and...	666,034
Filipino Filipinos in Malaysia Filipinos in Malaysia comprise migrants and residents from the Philippines and their descendants living in Malaysia. Because of the short distance between the two nations, many Filipinos have emigrated there. Between 245,000 and 637,000 Filipinos live in Malaysia...	442,933
Han Chinese, Hainanese	380,781
Han Chinese, Min Bei Min Bei The Min-Bei language, or Northern Min is a collection of dialects of Min spoken in Nanping Prefecture of northwestern Fujian which, apart from Shao-Jiang Min, are mutually intelligible....	373,337
Malay, East Malaysia East Malaysia East Malaysia, also known as Malaysian Borneo, is the part of Malaysia located on the island of Borneo. It consists of the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak, and the Federal Territory of Labuan. It lies to the east from Peninsular Malaysia , which is located on the Malay Peninsula. The two are...	271,979
Han Chinese, Min Dong Min Dong The Eastern Min language, or Min Dong is the language mainly spoken in the eastern part of Fujian Province in China, in and near Fuzhou and Ningde. Fuzhou is the province's capital and largest city...	249,413
Straits Chinese	236,918
Nepalese	217,587
Tausug	201,797
Dusun Dusun Dusun is the collective name of a tribe or ethnic and linguistic group in the Malaysian state of Sabah of North Borneo. Due to similarities in culture and language with the Kadazan ethnic group, a new unified term called "Kadazan-Dusun" was created. Collectively, they form the largest ethnic group... , Central	191,146

Bumiputras

Bumiputras are divided into Malays, who make up the majority of the Malaysian population at 50.4%; and other bumiputra

Bumiputra

, who make up 11% of the Malaysian population. Bumiputra status is also accorded to certain non-Malay indigenous peoples

Indigenous peoples

Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....

, including ethnic Thais

Thai people

The Thai people, or Siamese, are the main ethnic group of Thailand and are part of the larger Tai ethnolinguistic peoples found in Thailand and adjacent countries in Southeast Asia as well as southern China. Their language is the Thai language, which is classified as part of the Kradai family of...

, Khmers

Khmer people

Khmer people are the predominant ethnic group in Cambodia, accounting for approximately 90% of the 14.8 million people in the country. They speak the Khmer language, which is part of the larger Mon–Khmer language family found throughout Southeast Asia...

, Chams and the natives of Sabah

Sabah

Sabah is one of 13 member states of Malaysia. It is located on the northern portion of the island of Borneo. It is the second largest state in the country after Sarawak, which it borders on its southwest. It also shares a border with the province of East Kalimantan of Indonesia in the south...

and Sarawak

Sarawak

Sarawak is one of two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo. Known as Bumi Kenyalang , Sarawak is situated on the north-west of the island. It is the largest state in Malaysia followed by Sabah, the second largest state located to the North- East.The administrative capital is Kuching, which...

. Laws over who gets Bumiputra status vary between states. Some Eurasians can obtain bumiputra privileges, providing they can prove they are of Portuguese descent.

Malays

The Malays are an ethnic group predominantly inhabiting the Malay Peninsula and parts of Sumatra

Sumatra

Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...

and Borneo

Borneo

Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....

. They form the largest community in Malaysia and play a dominant role politically. They make up about half of the total population. By constitutional definition

Article 160 of the Constitution of Malaysia

Article 160 of the Constitution of Malaysia defines various terms used in the Constitution. It has an important impact on Islam in Malaysia and the Malay people due to its definition of a Malay person under clause 2...

, Malays are Muslims who practice Malay customs (adat) and culture. Therefore, technically, a Muslim of any race who practices Malay customs and culture can be considered a Malay and allocated privilleged status in the form of the Bumiputra

Bumiputra

rights stipulated in the constitution.

Their language, Malay

Malay language

Malay is a major language of the Austronesian family. It is the official language of Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and Singapore...

(Bahasa Malaysia), is the national language of the country. Citizens of Minangkabau, Bugis or Javanese origins, who can be classified "Malay" under constitutional definitions may also speak their respective ancestral tongues. However, English is also widely spoken in major towns and cities across the country. Malays from different states in Malaysia carry distinct dialects that can sometimes be unintelligible to most of their fellow countrymen. By definition of the Malaysian constitution

Constitution of Malaysia

The Federal Constitution of Malaysia, which came into force in 1957, is the supreme law of Malaysia. The Federation was initially called the Federation of Malaya and it adopted its present name, Malaysia, when the States of Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore joined the Federation...

, all Malays are Muslims.

In the past, Malays wrote in Pallava

Pallava

The Pallava dynasty was a Tamil dynasty which ruled the northern Tamil Nadu region and the southern Andhra Pradesh region with their capital at Kanchipuram...

or using the Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...

-based alphabet of Kawi

Kawi language

Kawi is a literary and prose language on the islands of Java, Bali, and Lombok, based on Old Javanese, a language with a sizable vocabulary of Sanskrit loanwords. Kawi is the ancestor language of modern Javanese. The name "kawi" is derived from the root ku, which in Sanskrit means “poet”, and, in...

. Arabic traders later introduced Jawi, an Arabic-based script, which became popular after the 15th century. Until then reading and writing were mostly the preserve of scholars and nobility, while most Malay commoners were illiterate. Jawi was taught along with Islam, allowing the script to spread through all social classes. Nevertheless, Kawi

Kawi language

remained in use by the upper-class well into the 15th century. The Romanised script was introduced during the colonial period and, over time, it came to replace both Sanskrit and Jawi. This was largely due to the influence of the European education system, wherein children were taught the Latin alphabet.

Malay culture shows strong influences from Buddhism and animism. However, since the Islamisation movement

Islamic revival

Islamic revival refers to a revival of the Islamic religion throughout the Islamic world, that began roughly sometime in 1970s and is manifested in greater religious piety, and community feeling, and in a growing adoption of Islamic culture, dress, terminology, separation of the sexes, and values...

of the 1980s and 90s, these aspects are often neglected or banned altogether. Because any Malay-speaking Muslim is entitled to bumiputra privileges, many non-Malay Muslims have adopted the Malay language, customs and attire in the last few decades. This is particularly the case with Indian Muslims from the peninsula and the Kadayan of Borneo. The Malay ethnic group is distinct from the concept of a Malay race

Malay race

The concept of a Malay race was proposed by the German scientist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach , and classified as the brown race. Since Blumenbach, many anthropologists have rejected his theory of five races, citing the enormous complexity of classifying races...

, which encompasses a wider group of people, including most of Indonesia and the Philippines.

Other Bumiputras

Malaysia has many other non-Malay indigenous people, who are given Bumiputra status. The indigenous tribes are the oldest inhabitants of Malaysia, and the indigenous groups of Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia are collectively known as the "Orang Asal". They account for about 5 percent of the total population, and represent a majority in East Malaysia of Sabah

Sabah

and Sarawak

Sarawak

. In Sarawak, the dominant tribal groups are the Dayak, who are either Iban or Bidayuh. The Iban

Iban people

The Ibans are a branch of the Dayak peoples of Borneo. In Malaysia, most Ibans are located in Sarawak, a small portion in Sabah and some in west Malaysia. They were formerly known during the colonial period by the British as Sea Dayaks. Ibans were renowned for practising headhunting and...

of form the largest of all indigenous groups, numbering over 600,000 (30% of Sarawak's population) and some of who still live in traditional longhouses which can hold up to 200 people. Longhouses are mostly places along the Rajang and Lupar rivers and their tributaries, although many Iban have moved to the cities. The Bidayuh

Bidayuh

Bidayuh is the collective name for several indigenous groups found in southern Sarawak, on the island of Borneo, that are broadly similar in language and culture . The name "Bidayuh" means 'inhabitants of land'...

s, numbering around 170,000, are concentrated in the southwestern part of Sarawak. They, together with other indigenous groups in Sarawak make up over half of the states population.

The largest indigenous tribe in Sabah is the Kadazan

Kadazan

The Kadazans are an ethnic group indigenous to the state of Sabah in Malaysia. They are found mainly on the west coast of Sabah, the surrounding locales, and various locations in the interior. Due to similarities in culture and language with the Dusun ethnic group, and also because of other...

, most of whom are Christians and rice farmers. They live as substinence farmers. Sabah's has a large amount of indigenous people, 18% of the population are Kadazan-Dusun

Kadazan-Dusun

Kadazan-Dusun is the term assigned to the unification of the classification of two indigenous tribes in Sabah, Malaysia—the ethnic groups Kadazan and Dusun.- History :...

s, and 17% are Bajau

Bajau

The Bajau or Bajaw , also spelled Bajao, Badjau, Badjaw, or Badjao, are an indigenous ethnic group of Maritime Southeast Asia...

s).

There also exist aboriginal

Indigenous peoples

groups in much smaller numbers on the peninsula, where they are collectively known as Orang Asli (literally meaning "original person"). The 140,000 Orang Asli

Orang Asli

Orang Asli , is a generic Malaysian term used for people indigenous to Peninsular Malaysia...

comprise a number of different ethnic communities. Many tribes, both on the peninsula and in Borneo, were traditionally nomadic or semi-nomadic hunter—gatherers, including the Punan

Punan

Punan Bah or Punan is an ethnic group found in Sarawak, Malaysia. They are distinct, unrelated to the Penan and also the other so called Punan found in Kalimantan the Indonesian part of Borneo. Their name stems from two rivers along the banks of which they have been living time immemorial. They do...

, Penan

Penan

The Penan are a nomadic aboriginal people living in Sarawak and Brunei. They are one of the last such peoples remaining. The Penan are noted for their practice of 'molong' which means never taking more than necessary...

and Senoi

Senoi

The Senoi are a set of Malaysian hunting and gathering Orang Asli peoples.-Demography:The Senoi tribes live in the central part of the Malaya peninsula, and consist of five different groups, the Semai, Temiar, Mah Meri, Jah Hut, Sema Berisi and the Che Wong, all of who speak Senoic languages and...

. However, their ancestral land and hunting grounds are commonly reclaimed by the state, shifting them to inferior land and sometimes pushing them out of their traditional way of life. The most numerous of the Orang Asli are called Negritos and are related to native Papuans in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, and possibly even to aborigines in Australia. Other bumiputra minorities include Malaysian Siam

Malaysian Siam

Malaysian Siamese is a term commonly referred to Malaysians of Thai ethnicity. Politically, Malaysian Siamese are recognised as Bumiputeras and are given similar status to the Malays, Kadazan-Dusuns, Ibans and Malaccan Portuguese.-Religion:...

ese, Khmers, Chams, and Burmese.

Non-Bumiputeras

Minorities who lack Bumiputra status have established themselves in Malaysia. Those who are not considered to be bumiputras make up a considerable portion of the Malaysian population. While some Chinese and Indian families, known as Peranakan

Peranakan

Peranakan Chinese and Baba-Nyonya are terms used for the descendants of late 15th and 16th-century Chinese immigrants to the Indonesian archipelago of Nusantara during the Colonial era....

("straits-born"), have resided in Malaysia since as far back as 15th century Melaka, the majority of Malaysia's Chinese and Indian populations are descended from migrants who arrived during the colonial period.

Chinese

The second largest ethnic group is Chinese who make up 24.6% of the population. They have been dominant in trade and business since the early 20th century. Ipoh

Ipoh

Ipoh is the capital city of Perak state, Malaysia. It is approximately 200 km north of Kuala Lumpur on the North-South Expressway....

and Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...

are Chinese-majority cities, while Penang

Penang

Penang is a state in Malaysia and the name of its constituent island, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. It is bordered by Kedah in the north and east, and Perak in the south. Penang is the second smallest Malaysian state in area after Perlis, and the...

is the only Chinese-majority state in Malaysia. The Chinese have been settling in Malaysia for many centuries, as seen in the emergence of the Peranakan culture, but the exodus peaked during the nineteenth century through trading and tin

Tin

Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...

-mining. When they first arrived, the Chinese often worked the most grueling jobs like tin mining and railway construction. Later, some of them owned businesses that become large conglomerates in today's Malaysia. Most Chinese are Tao

Tao

Dao or Tao is a Chinese word meaning 'way', 'path', 'route', or sometimes more loosely, 'doctrine' or 'principle'...

Buddhist and retain strong ties to their ancestral homeland.

The first Chinese to settle in the Straits Settlements

Straits Settlements

The Straits Settlements were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia.Originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Company, the Straits Settlements came under direct British control as a crown colony on 1 April 1867...

, primarily in and around Malacca

Malacca

Malacca , dubbed The Historic State or Negeri Bersejarah among locals) is the third smallest Malaysian state, after Perlis and Penang. It is located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, on the Straits of Malacca. It borders Negeri Sembilan to the north and the state of Johor to the south...

, gradually adopted elements of Malaysian culture and intermarried with the Malaysian community and with this, a new ethnic group called babas (male) and nyonyas (female) emerged. Babas and nyonyas as a group are known as Peranakan
Peranakan
Peranakan Chinese and Baba-Nyonya are terms used for the descendants of late 15th and 16th-century Chinese immigrants to the Indonesian archipelago of Nusantara during the Colonial era....

. They produced a syncretic set of practices, beliefs, and arts, combining Malay and Chinese traditions in such a way as to create a new culture.

The Chinese community in Malaysia speak a variety of Chinese dialects including Mandarin, Hokkien

Min Nan

The Southern Min languages, or Min Nan , are a family of Chinese languages spoken in southern Fujian, eastern Guangdong, Hainan, Taiwan, and southern Zhejiang provinces of China, and by descendants of emigrants from these areas in diaspora....

, Cantonese, Hakka, and Teochew

Teochew people

The Chaozhou people are Han people, native to the Chaoshan region of eastern Guangdong province of China who speak the Teochew dialect. Today, most Teochew people live outside China in Southeast Asia especially in Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia. They can also be found almost anywhere in the...

. A large majority of Chinese in Malaysia, especially those from the larger cities such as Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya

Petaling Jaya

Petaling Jaya is a Malaysian city originally developed as a satellite township for Kuala Lumpur comprising mostly residential and some industrial areas. It is located in the Petaling district of Selangor with an area of approximately 97.2 km². On 20 June 2006, Petaling Jaya was granted a...

, Ipoh

Ipoh

Ipoh is the capital city of Perak state, Malaysia. It is approximately 200 km north of Kuala Lumpur on the North-South Expressway....

, Klang

Klang

Klang , formerly known as Kelang, is the royal city and former capital of the state of Selangor, Malaysia. It is located within the Klang District in Klang Valley. It is located about 32 km to the west of Kuala Lumpur and 6 km east of Port Klang...

and Penang

Penang

speak decent English as well. There has also been an increasing number of the present generation Chinese who consider English as their first language.

Indian

The Indian community in Malaysia is the smallest of the three main ethnic groups, comprising 7.1% of the population. Tamils

Tamil people

Tamil people , also called Tamils or Tamilians, are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, India and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. Historic and post 15th century emigrant communities are also found across the world, notably Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, South Africa, Australia, Canada,...

make up the largest subgroup, and together with Malayalees

Malayalam language

Malayalam , is one of the four major Dravidian languages of southern India. It is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India with official language status in the state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry. It is spoken by 35.9 million people...

-speaking and Telugu people

Telugu people

The Telugu people or Telugu Prajalu are an ethnic group of India. They are the native speakers of the Telugu language, the most commonly spoken language in India after Hindi and Bengali...

make up over 85% of the people of Indian origin in the country. The rest of the percentage consist of mostly Hindi

Hindi

Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...

-speaking Punjabis. Indians began migrating to Malaysia in the early 19th century. They first came to Malaya for barter trade, especially in the former Straits Settlements of Singapore, Malacca and Penang. Other came as teachers or other skilled workers. A large number were part of the migrations from India forced by the British during colonial times to work in the plantation industry.

There is a substantial presence of people of Pakistani origin

Pakistanis in Malaysia

Pakistanis in Malaysia form the largest Pakistani diaspora community in southeast Asia and the tenth-largest in Asia as a whole.-Employment:Figures from Pakistan's Ministry of Labour, Manpower, and Overseas Pakistanis show 10,000 Pakistanis working in Malaysia. A few sources have claimed many as...

(estimated to be 200,000, about 1.0%), mainly Punjabis as well as smaller groups of Pashtuns

Pashtun people

Pashtuns or Pathans , also known as ethnic Afghans , are an Eastern Iranic ethnic group with populations primarily between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in Pakistan...

, Sindhis

Sindhi people

Sindhis are a Sindhi speaking socio-ethnic group of people originating from Sindh, a province Formerly of British India, now in Pakistan. Today Sindhis that live in Pakistan belong to various religious denominations including Islam, Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, Sikhism and Christianity...

, Urdu-speaking people

Muhajir people

Muhajir [literally – migrants] is a term commonly used especially by Pakistanis to describe the Muslim immigrants who chose to settle in Pakistan and shifted their domicile after partition of British India into Pakistan and India. Some had participated in the movement for creation of Pakistan in...

, Kashmiris

Kashmiri people

The Kashmiri people are a Dardic linguistic group living in Kashmir Valley in Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir and parts of the Pakistani territory of Azad Kashmir who speak the Kashmiri language...

and a small number of Afghans and Nepalis

Nepalese people in Malaysia

There is a large community of Nepalese people in Malaysia, consisting mostly of Gurkhas recruited from Nepal, foreign workers and their families...

. They arrived in Malaysia as British soldiers of the Punjab Rifles Regiment and as businessmen and traders. They were initially listed as others but they have intermarried with local Muslims and most of them list themselves as Malays. People of Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan and Nepali origin are often included in the "Indian" category for statistical purposes. Some of the well known tycoons and banker are from this ethnic group. Urdu is widely spoken by these groups and some Malays. The Punjabis (mostly Sikhs) are substantial in number with around 100,000 of them in Malaysia. Punjabis

Punjabi people

The Punjabi people , ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ), also Panjabi people, are an Indo-Aryan group from South Asia. They are the second largest of the many ethnic groups in South Asia. They originate in the Punjab region, which has been been the location of some of the oldest civilizations in the world including, the...

were originally brought in as police, guards and soldiers. Many middle- to upper-middle-class Indians in Malaysia speak English as a first language. A Tamil Muslim

Tamil Muslim

Tamil Muslim refers to those Muslims who have Tamil as their mother tongue. There are around 500,000 in Malaysia which is 2.6% of the total population of Malaysia and 20,000 in Singapore.Tamil Muslims are largely urban traders rather than farmers...

community of 200,000 also thrives as an independent subcultural group.

When India came under British rule, Indian labourers were sent to Malaya to work on sugarcane and coffee plantations and later in the rubber and oil palm estates. Some of them also came to work on the construction of buildings, roads and bridges. These labourers were mostly Hindu Tamils from Southern India and they were supervised by kanganis (overseers) and mandurs (foreman) who were from the upper caste Tamils. Sri Lankan Tamils came to Malaya as white-collar workers, holding jobs like clerks and hospital assistants. As for the Punjabis from Punjab

Punjab (British India)

Punjab was a province of British India, it was one of the last areas of the Indian subcontinent to fall under British rule. With the end of British rule in 1947 the province was split between West Punjab, which went to Pakistan, and East Punjab, which went to India...

(North India), most of them joined the army in Malaya while some handled the bullock-cart services in the country. One of the main reasons the Indians willingly left their homeland for Malaya was because of the caste system being practiced in their country. Under the system, those who are born into the lower castes can never improve their standing in society.

The Indians who came to Malaysia brought with them the Hindu and Sikh

Sikh

A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism. It primarily originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term "Sikh" has its origin in Sanskrit term शिष्य , meaning "disciple, student" or शिक्ष , meaning "instruction"...

culture — its unique temples and Gurdwaras, delicious cuisine and colourful garments. Hindu tradition remains strong until today in the Indian community of Malaysia. There's also the Chitty community in Malacca — similar to the Babas and Nyonyas, it is the result of the assimilation between the Indian immigrants and local culture. Though they remain Hindu, the Chitties speak Bahasa Malaysia and women dress in sarong kebayas instead of sarees. However, other Indian Hindus retain their vernacular languages and dialects. The community celebrates two main festivals — Deepavali and Thaipusam — and many other smaller religious events each year. On the other hand, the Sikhs celebrate Vasakhi, Lodi and Gurpurab. Indians in Malaysia mainly speak Tamil, Hindi

Hindi

, Malayalam, Telugu and some Punjabi.

Others

A small minority of Malaysians do not fit into the broader ethnic groups. A small population exists of people of European and Middle Eastern descent. Europeans and Middle Easterners, who first arrived during the colonial period, assimilated through intermarriage into the Christian and Muslim communities. Most Eurasian

Eurasian (mixed ancestry)

The word Eurasian refers to people of mixed Asian and European ancestry. It was originally coined in 19th-century British India to refer to Anglo-Indians of mixed British and Indian descent....

Malaysians trace their ancestry to British, Dutch or Portuguese colonists, and there is a strong Kristang

Kristang people

The Kristang are a creole ethnic group of people of mixed Portuguese and Malaccan descent based in Malaysia and Singapore. People of this ethnicity have strong Dutch heritage, some British as well as Chinese and Indian heritage due to intermarriage, which was common among the Kristang...

community in Melaka.

The Nepal

Nepal

Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...

i population numbers little over 600 and lives in Rawang, Selangor. Originally brought by the British as bodyguards and security personnel, they come from the Rana, Chettri, Rai and Gurung clans. Other minorities include Filipinos

Filipinos in Malaysia

Filipinos in Malaysia comprise migrants and residents from the Philippines and their descendants living in Malaysia. Because of the short distance between the two nations, many Filipinos have emigrated there. Between 245,000 and 637,000 Filipinos live in Malaysia...

and Burmese

Bamar

The Bamar are the dominant ethnic group of Burma , constituting approximately two-thirds of the population. The Bamar live primarily in the Irrawaddy basin, and speak the Burmese language, which is also the official language of Burma. Bamar customs and identity are closely intertwined with general...

. A small number of ethnic Vietnamese

Vietnamese people

The Vietnamese people are an ethnic group originating from present-day northern Vietnam and southern China. They are the majority ethnic group of Vietnam, comprising 86% of the population as of the 1999 census, and are officially known as Kinh to distinguish them from other ethnic groups in Vietnam...

from Cambodia

Cambodia

Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...

and Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

settled in Malaysia as Vietnam War

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

refugees.

There is no general consensus on the ethnic profiling of children of mixed parentage. Some choose to be identified according to paternal ethnicity while others simply think that they fall in the "Others" category. The majority choose to identify as Malay as long as either parent is Malay, mainly due to the legal definition of Bumiputera. Children of Chinese-Indian parentage are known as Chindian

Chindian

"Chindian" is a compound word used to refer to an Indian restaurant within the village of Chinnor, Oxfordshire. It is formed simply, yet ingeniously, by putting the "ch" from "Chinnor" in front of the word "Indian"....

s. Though this is not an official category in national census data, it is an increasing number especially in urban areas.

Citizenship

Citizenship is usually granted by lex soli. Citizenship in the states of Sabah

Sabah

and Sarawak

Sarawak

in Malaysian Borneo

East Malaysia

are distinct from citizenship in Peninsular Malaysia

Peninsular Malaysia

for immigration purposes. Every citizen is issued a biometric smart chip identity card

Identity document

An identity document is any document which may be used to verify aspects of a person's personal identity. If issued in the form of a small, mostly standard-sized card, it is usually called an identity card...

, known as MyKad
MyKad
MyKad is the compulsory identity document for Malaysian citizens aged 12 and above. Introduced by the National Registration Department of Malaysia on 5 September 2001 as one of four MSC Malaysia flagship applications and a replacement for the High Quality Identity Card , Malaysia became the first...

, at the age of 12, and must carry the card at all times.

Religion

Islam is the largest and official religion of Malaysia, although Malaysia is a multi-religious society and the Malaysian constitution guarantees religious freedom. Despite the recognition of Islam as the state religion, the first 4 prime ministers have stressed that Malaysia could function as a secular state. According to the Population and Housing Census 2000 figures, approximately 60.4 percent of the population practised Islam; 19.2 percent Buddhism

Buddhism

Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...

; 9.1 percent Christianity; 6.3 percent Hinduism

Hinduism

Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...

; and 2.6 percent practise Confucianism

Confucianism

Confucianism is a Chinese ethical and philosophical system developed from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius . Confucianism originated as an "ethical-sociopolitical teaching" during the Spring and Autumn Period, but later developed metaphysical and cosmological elements in the Han...

, Taoism

Taoism

Taoism refers to a philosophical or religious tradition in which the basic concept is to establish harmony with the Tao , which is the mechanism of everything that exists...

and other traditional Chinese religions

Chinese folk religion

Chinese folk religion or Shenism , which is a term of considerable debate, are labels used to describe the collection of ethnic religious traditions which have been a main belief system in China and among Han Chinese ethnic groups for most of the civilization's history until today...

. The remainder was accounted for by other faiths, including animism

Animism

Animism refers to the belief that non-human entities are spiritual beings, or at least embody some kind of life-principle....

, folk religion

Folk religion

Folk religion consists of ethnic or regional religious customs under the umbrella of an organized religion, but outside of official doctrine and practices...

, and Sikhism

Sikhism

Sikhism is a monotheistic religion founded during the 15th century in the Punjab region, by Guru Nanak Dev and continued to progress with ten successive Sikh Gurus . It is the fifth-largest organized religion in the world and one of the fastest-growing...

while 0.9% either reported having no religion or did not provide any information.

The majority of Malaysian Indians follow Hinduism (84.5%), with a significant minority identifying as Christians (7.7%), Muslims (3.8%), over 150,000 Sikh

Sikh

s, and 1,000 Jains. Most Malaysian Chinese

Malaysian Chinese

follow a combination of Buddhism

Buddhism

, Taoism

Taoism

Taoism refers to a philosophical or religious tradition in which the basic concept is to establish harmony with the Tao , which is the mechanism of everything that exists...

, Confucianism

Confucianism

and ancestor-worship but, when pressed to specify their religion, will identify themselves as Buddhists. Statistics from the 2000 Census indicate that 75.9% of Malaysia's ethnic Chinese identify as Buddhist, with significant numbers of adherents following Taoism (10.6%) and Christianity (9.6%), along with small Hui-Muslim

Hui people

The Hui people are an ethnic group in China, defined as Chinese speaking people descended from foreign Muslims. They are typically distinguished by their practice of Islam, however some also practice other religions, and many are direct descendants of Silk Road travelers.In modern People's...

populations in areas like Penang

Penang

. Christianity is the predominant religion of the non-Malay Bumiputra

Bumiputra

community (50.1%) with an additional 36.3% identifying as Muslims and 7.3% follow folk religion

Folk religion

Folk religion consists of ethnic or regional religious customs under the umbrella of an organized religion, but outside of official doctrine and practices...

Islam

Islam is thought to have been brought to Malaysia around the 13th century by Indian traders. Since then the religion has become the predominant religion of the country and is recognised as the state's official religion. All ethnic Malays are considered Muslim by Article 160 of the Constitution of Malaysia

Article 160 of the Constitution of Malaysia

.

Muslims are obliged to follow the decisions of Syariah

Syariah Court

Syariah refers to Sharia law in Islamic religious law and deals with exclusively Islamic laws, having jurisdiction upon every Muslim in Malaysia. The dual-system of law in Malaysia is provided for in Article 121 of the Constitution of Malaysia. The Syariah Court system is one of the two separate...

courts in matters concerning their religion. The Islamic judges are expected to follow the Shafi`i legal school of Islam, which is the main madh'hab of Malaysia. The jurisdiction of Sharia

Sharia

Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...

h courts is limited only to Muslims in matters such as marriage, inheritance

Inheritance

Inheritance is the practice of passing on property, titles, debts, rights and obligations upon the death of an individual. It has long played an important role in human societies...

, divorce, apostasy

Apostasy

Apostasy , 'a defection or revolt', from ἀπό, apo, 'away, apart', στάσις, stasis, 'stand, 'standing') is the formal disaffiliation from or abandonment or renunciation of a religion by a person. One who commits apostasy is known as an apostate. These terms have a pejorative implication in everyday...

, religious conversion

Religious conversion

Religious conversion is the adoption of a new religion that differs from the convert's previous religion. Changing from one denomination to another within the same religion is usually described as reaffiliation rather than conversion.People convert to a different religion for various reasons,...

, and custody among others. No other criminal or civil offences are under the jurisdiction of the Shariah courts, which have a similar hierarchy to the Civil Courts

Courts of Malaysia

The Judiciary of Malaysia is largely centralized despite Malaysia's federal constitution, heavily influenced by the British Common Law and to a lesser extent Islamic law, and is mostly independent from political interference.-History:...

. Despite being the supreme courts of the land, the Civil Courts (including the Federal Court) do not hear matters related to Islamic practices, as ratified by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad

Mahathir bin Mohamad

Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad . is a Malaysian politician who was the fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia. He held the post for 22 years from 1981 to 2003, making him Malaysia's longest serving Prime Minister. His political career spanned almost 40 years.Born and raised in Alor Setar, Kedah, Mahathir...

in the late 1980s. Regulation of sexual activities among the Muslim population is strict, with laws prohibiting unmarried couples from occupying a secluded area or a confined space, to prevent suspicion of acts considered islamically immoral.

Languages

Malaysia contains speakers of 137 living languages, 41 of which are found in Peninsula Malaysia. The official language of Malaysia is known as Bahasa Malaysia, a standardized form of the Malay language

Malay language

Malay is a major language of the Austronesian family. It is the official language of Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and Singapore...

. English was, for a protracted period, the de facto, administrative language of Malaysia, though its status was later rescinded. Despite that, English remains an active second language

Second language

A second language or L2 is any language learned after the first language or mother tongue. Some languages, often called auxiliary languages, are used primarily as second languages or lingua francas ....

in many areas of Malaysian society and is compulsory, serving as the medium of instruction for Maths and Sciences in all public schools per the PPSMI

Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran Sains dan Matematik Dalam Bahasa Inggeris

Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran Sains dan Matematik Dalam Bahasa Inggeris is a government policy aimed at improving the command of the English language among pupils at primary and secondary schools in Malaysia...

policy (which is pending reversal in 2012). Many businesses in Malaysia conduct their transactions in English, and it is sometimes used in official correspondence. Examinations are based on British English

British English

British English, or English , is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere...

, although there has been much American influence through television.

Malaysian English

Malaysian English

Malaysian English , formally known as Malaysian Standard English , is a form of English used and spoken in Malaysia as a second language...

, also known as Malaysian Standard English (MySE), is a form of English derived from British English

British English

British English, or English , is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere...

, although there is little official use of the term, except with relation to education. Malaysian English also sees wide use in business, along with Manglish

Manglish

Manglish is an English based creole spoken in Malaysia.The vocabulary of Manglish consists of words originating from English, Malay, Hokkien, Mandarin, Cantonese, Tamil, and to a lesser extent various other European languages, while Manglish syntax resembles southern varieties of Chinese...

, which is a colloquial form of English with heavy Malay

Malay language

Malay is a major language of the Austronesian family. It is the official language of Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and Singapore...

, Chinese dialect and Tamil

Tamil language

Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...

influences. Most Malaysians are conversant in English, although some are only fluent in the Manglish form. The Malaysian government officially discourages the use of Manglish.

Chinese Malaysians mostly speak Chinese dialects from the southern provinces of China. The more common dialects in Peninsular Malaysia are Hakka

Hakka

The Hakka , sometimes Hakka Han, are Han Chinese who speak the Hakka language and have links to the provincial areas of Guangdong, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan and Fujian in China....

, Hokkien

Hokkien

Hokkien is a Hokkien word corresponding to Standard Chinese "Fujian". It may refer to:* Hokkien dialect, a dialect of Min Nan Chinese spoken in Southern Fujian , Taiwan, South-east Asia, and elsewhere....

, Cantonese

Cantonese

Cantonese is a dialect spoken primarily in south China.Cantonese may also refer to:* Yue Chinese, the Chinese language that includes Cantonese* Cantonese cuisine, the cuisine of Guangdong province...

, Teochew, Hainanese, and Hokchiu

Fuzhou dialect

Fuzhou dialect , also known as Foochow dialect, Foochow, Foochowese, Fuzhounese, or Fuzhouhua, is considered the standard dialect of Min Dong, which is a branch of Min Chinese mainly spoken in the eastern part of Fujian Province. Native speakers also call it ' , meaning the language spoken in...

. In Sarawak

Sarawak

, most ethnic Chinese speak either Foochow or Hakka

Hakka

The Hakka , sometimes Hakka Han, are Han Chinese who speak the Hakka language and have links to the provincial areas of Guangdong, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan and Fujian in China....

while Hakka

Hakka

The Hakka , sometimes Hakka Han, are Han Chinese who speak the Hakka language and have links to the provincial areas of Guangdong, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan and Fujian in China....

predominates in Sabah

Sabah

except in the city of Sandakan

Sandakan

Sandakan is the second-largest city in Sabah, East Malaysia, on the north-eastern coast of Borneo. It is located on the east coast of the island and it is the administrative centre of Sandakan Division and was the former capital of British North Borneo...

where Cantonese

Cantonese

Cantonese is a dialect spoken primarily in south China.Cantonese may also refer to:* Yue Chinese, the Chinese language that includes Cantonese* Cantonese cuisine, the cuisine of Guangdong province...

is more often spoken despite the Hakka

Hakka

The Hakka , sometimes Hakka Han, are Han Chinese who speak the Hakka language and have links to the provincial areas of Guangdong, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan and Fujian in China....

-origins of the Chinese residing there .Hokkien is mostly spoken in Penang

Penang

and Kedah

Kedah

Kedah is a state of Malaysia, located in the northwestern part of Peninsular Malaysia. The state covers a total area of over 9,000 km², and it consists of the mainland and Langkawi. The mainland has a relatively flat terrain, which is used to grow rice...

whereas Cantonese is mostly spoken in Ipoh

Ipoh

Ipoh is the capital city of Perak state, Malaysia. It is approximately 200 km north of Kuala Lumpur on the North-South Expressway....

and Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur

. However, in Malaysia as a whole, the majority of ethnic Chinese speak Mandarin as their first language, while English is the first language for the rest. Some of the less-spoken dialects such as Hainanese are facing extinction. As with Malaysian youths of other races, most Chinese youth are multilingual and can speak up to four languages with at least moderate fluency – their native Chinese dialect, Mandarin, English and Malay.

Tamil

Tamil language

is the most common language spoken among Indians

South Asian ethnic groups

The ethno-linguistic composition of the population of South Asia, that is the nations of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka is highly diverse. The majority of the population fall within two large Linguistic groups, Indo-Aryan and Dravidian.These groups are further...

in Malaysia, especially in Peninsular Malaysia

Peninsular Malaysia

where they still maintain close cultural ties with their homeland. However, many Indians in East Malaysia, especially the younger generation, do not speak much Tamil

Tamil language

and speak either Malay or English as their first language. This is because there are far fewer Indians in East Malaysia than in the Peninsula. Thus, the Indians in East Malaysia prioritize on Malay and English because those languages are more useful in daily life in that region.

Citizens of Minangkabau, Bugis

Bugis

The Bugis are the most numerous of the three major linguistic and ethnic groups of South Sulawesi, the southwestern province of Sulawesi, Indonesia's third largest island. Although many Bugis live in the large port cities of Makassar and Parepare, the majority are farmers who grow wet rice on the...

or Javanese origins, who can be classified "Malay" under constitutional definitions may also speak their respective ancestral tongues. The native tribes of East Malaysia have their own languages which are related to, but easily distinguishable from, Malay. The Iban

Iban language

The Iban language is spoken by the Iban, a branch of the Dayak ethnic group formerly known as "Sea Dayak" who live in Sarawak, the Indonesian province of Kalimantan Barat and in Brunei. It belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family, and is related to Malay, more...

is the main tribal language in Sarawak

Sarawak

while Dusunic languages

Dusunic languages

The Dusunic languages are a group of languages spoken by the Bisaya, Dusun, Kadazan, Rungus, and related peoples in the Malaysian province of Sabah on Borneo.-Languages:The languages are divided as follows, per Ethnologue 15:...

are spoken by the natives in Sabah

Sabah

. A variant of the Malay language that is spoken in Brunei

Brunei

Brunei , officially the State of Brunei Darussalam or the Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace , is a sovereign state located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia...

is also commonly spoken in both states.

Some Malaysians have caucasian

Caucasian race

The term Caucasian race has been used to denote the general physical type of some or all of the populations of Europe, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Western Asia , Central Asia and South Asia...

ancestry and speak creole language

Creole language

A creole language, or simply a creole, is a stable natural language developed from the mixing of parent languages; creoles differ from pidgins in that they have been nativized by children as their primary language, making them have features of natural languages that are normally missing from...

s, such as the Portugese based Malaccan Creoles, and the Spanish based Zamboangueño Chavacano. Thai is also spoken in some areas.

Education

Literacy rates ( percentage of people over 15 who can read and write) are high in Malaysia, with an overall Literacy rate of 88.7%. Literacy rates are higher among males (92%) than females (85.4%)

Education in Malaysia is monitored by the federal government Ministry of Education. The education system features a non-compulsory kindergarten education followed by six years of compulsory primary education, and five years of optional secondary education. Most Malaysian children start schooling between the ages of three to six, in kindergarten

Kindergarten

A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...

Primary education

Children begin primary schooling at the age of seven for a period of six years. Primary schools are divided into two categories, national primary schools ands vernacular school. Vernacular schools (Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan) use either Chinese or Tamil as the medium of instruction, whereas national primary schools (Sekolah Kebangsaan) uses Bahasa Malaysia as the medium of instruction for subjects except English, Science and Mathematics.

Before progressing to the secondary level of education, pupils in Year 6 are required to sit the Primary School Achievement Test (Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah
Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah
Primary School Evaluation Test, also known as Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah , is a national examination taken by all students in Malaysia at the end of their sixth year in primary school before they leave for secondary school...

, UPSR). A programme called First Level Assessment (Penilaian Tahap Satu, PTS) taken during Primary Year 3 was abolished in 2001.

Secondary education

Secondary education in Malaysia is conducted in secondary schools (Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan) for five years. National secondary schools use Malay as the main language of instruction. The only exceptions are Mathematics and Science and languages other than Malay, however this was only implemented in 2003, prior to which all non-language subjects were taught in Malay. At the end of Form Three, which is the third year, students are evaluated in the Lower Secondary Assessment (Penilaian Menengah Rendah
Penilaian Menengah Rendah
Penilaian Menengah Rendah is a Malaysian public examination taken by all Form Three students in both government and private schools throughout the country. It was formerly known as Sijil Rendah Pelajaran...

, PMR). However, PMR is to be abolished by 2016. Secondary students no longer sit for PMR in Form Three but to directly sit for SPM in Form Five. In the final year of secondary education (Form Five), students sit the Malaysian Certificate of Education (Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia
Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia
The Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia , or the Malaysian Certificate of Education, is a national examination taken by all fifth-year secondary school students in Malaysia...

, SPM) examination, which is equivalent to the former British Ordinary or 'O' Levels. The government has decided to abandon the use of English in teaching maths and science and revert to Bahasa Malaysia, starting in 2012.

Malaysian national secondary schools are sub-divided into several types: National Secondary School (Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan), Religious Secondary School (Sekolah Menengah Agama), National-Type Secondary School (Sekolah Menengah Jenis Kebangsaan) (also referred to as Mission Schools), Technical Schools (Sekolah Menengah Teknik), Residential Schools

Sekolah Berasrama Penuh

Sekolah Berasrama Penuh or Fully Residential School is a school system established to nurture selected outstanding students in a conducive and educational environment to excel in academics and extracurricular activities, creating a wholesome student. There is about 60 SBPs throughout Malaysia...

and MARA Junior Science College (Maktab Rendah Sains MARA).

There are also 60 Chinese Independent High School

Chinese Independent High School

Chinese Independent High Schools is a type of private high school in Malaysia. They provide secondary education in the Chinese language as the continuation of the primary education in Chinese national-type primary schools...

s in Malaysia, where most subjects are taught in Chinese. Chinese Independent High Schools are monitored and standardised by the United Chinese School Committees' Association of Malaysia (UCSCAM). However, unlike government schools, independent schools are autonomous. It takes six years to complete secondary education in Chinese independent schools. Students will sit a standardised test conducted by UCSCAM, which is known as the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) in Junior Middle 3 (equivalent to PMR) and Senior Middle 3 (equivalent to A level). A number of independent schools conduct classes in Malay and English in addition to Chinese, enabling the students to sit the PMR and SPM additionally.

Tertiary education

Before the introduction of the matriculation system

Malaysian Matriculation Programme

The Malaysian Matriculation Programme is a one or two-year pre-university preparatory programme offered by the Ministry of Education, Malaysia...

, students aiming to enter public universities had to complete an additional 18 months of secondary schooling in Form Six and sit the Malaysian Higher School Certificate (Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia
Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia
The Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia is a pre-university examination taken by students in Malaysia. It was formerly known as the Higher School Certificate...

, STPM); equivalent to the British Advanced or 'A' levels. Since the introduction of the matriculation programme as an alternative to STPM in 1999, students who completed the 12-month programme in matriculation colleges (kolej matrikulasi in Malay) can enrol in local universities. However, in the matriculation system, only 10 per cent of the places are open to non-Bumiputra students.

There are a number of public universities established in Malaysia. Private universities are also gaining a reputation for international quality education and students from all over the world attend these universities. In addition, four reputable international universities have set up their branch campuses in Malaysia since 1998. A branch campus can be seen as an ‘offshore campus’ of the foreign university, which offers the same courses and awards as the main campus. Both local and international students can acquire these identical foreign qualifications in Malaysia at a lower fee. The foreign university branch campuses in Malaysia are: Monash University Malaysia Campus, Curtin University of Technology Sarawak Campus

Curtin University of Technology Sarawak Campus

Curtin University Sarawak Campus is an off-shore campus of Curtin University, a university based in Perth, Western Australia. It provides local and international students with the opportunity to receive higher education in Sarawak, Malaysia.- Location :...

, Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus

Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus

Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus is the foreign branch campus of Swinburne University of Technology located in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. Established in 2000, Swinburne Sarawak operates as a partnership between the Sarawak State Government and Swinburne Australia...

and University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus

University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus

The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus is an overseas campus of the University of Nottingham. The university is situated in Semenyih, Selangor a town part of Greater Kuala Lumpur. The University was recently ranked as "excellent" or tier 5 in a scale of tier 1-6 and is classified as a private...

.

Students also have the option of enrolling in private tertiary institutions after secondary studies. Most institutions have educational links with overseas universities especially in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, allowing students to spend a portion of their course duration abroad as well as getting overseas qualifications. One such example is SEGi University College

SEGi University College

SEGi University College, founded in 1977 as Systematic College, is located in Kuala Lumpur.SEGi University College is a private university college in Malaysia with more than 23,000 students at its campus in UEP Subang Jaya, Kota Damansara, Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Sarawak.SEGi University College...

which partnered with University of Abertay Dundee

University of Abertay Dundee

The University of Abertay Dundee, usually known simply as Abertay University, is a modern university in Dundee, Scotland.- History :The University of Abertay Dundee was created in 1994, under government legislation granting the title University to the Dundee Institute of Technology...

International schools

In addition to the Malaysian National Curriculum, Malaysia has many international schools. These schools mainly cater to the growing expatriate population in the country.

Healthcare

The Malaysian government places importance on the expansion and development of health care, putting 5% of the government social sector development budget into public health care—an increase of more than 47% over the previous figure. This has meant an overall increase of more than RM 2 billion. With a rising and aging population, the Government wishes to improve in many areas including the refurbishment of existing hospitals, building and equipping new hospitals, expansion of the number of polyclinics, and improvements in training and expansion of telehealth

Telehealth

Telehealth is the delivery of health-related services and information via telecommunications technologies. Telehealth could be as simple as two health professionals discussing a case over the telephone or as sophisticated as doing robotic surgery between facilities at different ends of the...

. A major problem with the health care sector is the lack of medical centres for rural areas, which the government is trying to counter through the development of and expansion of a system called "tele-primary care

Telehealth

". Another issue is the overperscription of drugs, though this has decreased in recent years. Since 2009 the Malaysian Health Ministry has increased its efforts to overhaul the system and attract more foreign investment.

The country generally has an efficient and widespread system of health care. It implements a universal healthcare system, which co-exists with the private healthcare system. Infant mortality rate in 2009 was 6 deaths per 1000 births, and life expectancy at birth in 2009 was 75 years.

The Malaysian health care system requires doctors to perform a compulsory three years service with public hospitals to ensure that the manpower in these hospitals is maintained. Recently foreign doctors have also been encouraged to take up employment in Malaysia. There is still, however, a significant shortage in the medical workforce, especially of highly trained specialists; thus, certain medical care and treatment are available only in large cities. Recent efforts to bring many facilities to other towns have been hampered by lack of expertise to run the available equipment.

The majority of private hospitals are in urban areas and, unlike many of the public hospitals, are equipped with the latest diagnostic and imaging facilities. Private hospitals have not generally been seen as an ideal investment—it has often taken up to ten years before companies have seen any profits. However, the situation has now changed and companies are now exploring this area again, corresponding with the increased number of foreigners entering Malaysia for medical care and the recent government focus on developing the health tourism

Medical tourism

Medical tourism is a term initially coined by travel agencies and the mass media to describe the rapidly-growing practice of travelling across international borders to obtain health care...

industry. The Government has also been trying to promote Malaysia as a health care destination, regionally and internationally.

Demographic trends and key rates

Censuses were taken in Malaysia in 1970, 1980, 1991, and 2000, with the one in 2000 taking place between 5 and 20 July. The total population is approximately 28 million. The population distribution is highly uneven, with some 20 million residents concentrated in Peninsula Malaysia. 70% of the population is urban. Due to the rise in labour-intensive industries, Malaysia is estimated to have over 3 million migrant workers, which is about 10% of the Malaysian population. The exact numbers are unknown: there are a million legal foreign workers and perhaps another million unauthorised foreigners. The state of Sabah alone had nearly 25% of its 2.7 million population listed as illegal foreign workers in the last census. Sabah based NGOs estimate that out of the 3 million population, 2 million are illegal immigrants.

Additionally, according to the World Refugee Survey 2008, published by the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants

U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants

The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants is an international advocacy and domestic refugee resettlement organization, headquartered in Washington, DC...

(USCRI), Malaysia hosts a population of refugees and asylum seekers numbering approximately 155,700. Of this population, approximately 70,500 refugees and asylum seekers are from the Philippines, 69,700 from Burma, and 21,800 from Indonesia. The USCRI named Malaysia as one of the ten worst places for refugees on account of the country's discriminatory practices toward them. Malaysian officials are reported to have turned deportees directly over to human smugglers in 2007, and Malaysia employs RELA

RELA Corps

"RELA Corps" is a paramilitary civil volunteer corps formed by the Malaysian government...

, a volunteer militia, to enforce its immigration law.

Population distribution by states and territories

State States of Malaysia Malaysia is a federation which consists of thirteen states and three federal territories . Eleven states and two federal territories are located on the Malay Peninsula while the remaining two states and one federal territory are on the island of Borneo.-The states and federal territories:Malaysia...	Population (2000)	Population (2010, est.)	Area (km²)	Pop. density (2010, est.)	Urban pop. % (2010, est.)	Bumiputera (%)	Chinese (%)	Indian (%)
Johor	2,740,625	3,305,900	18987	174	66.2	57.1	35.4	6.9
Kedah	1,649,756	1,966,900	9425	209	40.8	76.6	14.9	7.1
Kelantan	1,313,014	1,670,500	15024	111	36.1	95.0	3.8	0.3
Malacca	635,791	771,500	1652	467	69.2	63.8	29.1	6.5
Negeri Sembilan	859,924	1,011,700	6644	152	56.6	57.9	25.6	16.0
Pahang	1,288,376	1,534,800	35965	43	42.9	76.8	17.7	5.0
Penang	1,313,449	1,596,900	1031	1549	80.9	48.5	40.9	10.6
Perak	2,051,236	2,460,800	21005	117	60.5	55.87	31.35	20
Perlis	204,450	240,100	795	302	35.7	85.5	10.3	1.3
Sabah	2,603,485	3,214,200	73619	44	49.3	80.5	13.2	0.5
Sarawak	2,071,506	2,506,500	124450	20	49.9	72.9	26.7	0.2
Selangor	4,188,876	5,037,600	7960	633	88.3	58.9	27.8	13.3
Terengganu	898,825	1,050,000	12955	81	51.2	96.8	2.8	0.2
FT Kuala Lumpur	1,379,310	1,722,500	243	7088	100.0	38.6	46.5	13.4
FT Labuan	76,067	95,500	92	1038	78.1	79.6	15.8	1.3
FT Putrajaya	45,000	65,000	148	439	100.0	94.8	1.8	2.7

Source: National Census 2000, Department of Statistics Malaysia.

Putrajaya data is for 2004, and the official 2010 estimate is added into Selangor's population.
Population estimates are rounded to the nearest hundred.

Population age distribution trends for 2001–2010

Year	< 15 Years (%)	15 - 64 Years (%)	> 64 Years (%)	Population (in millions)
2001	32.7	63.4	3.9	24.12
2002	31.9	64.1	4.0	24.72
2003	31.2	64.8	4.0	25.32
2004	30.4	65.5	4.1	25.91
2005	29.7	66.1	4.2	26.48
2006	29.2	66.5	4.3	26.83
2007	28.7	66.9	4.4	27.18
2008	28.2	67.3	4.5	27.54
2009	27.7	67.7	4.6	27.90
2010	27.2	68.1	4.7	28.25

Data from July 2010.

Key demographic rates

Population growth rate^: 1.78% (2006 data)
Age Structure^:
- 0–14 years: 32.2% (male 4,118,086/female 3,884,403)
- 15–64 years: 62.9% (male 7,838,166/female 7,785,833)
- 65 years and over: 4.8% (male 526,967/female 667,831) (2007 est.)
Crude birth rate^ for 2006 is around 18.7 and increase over 2005 (18.3) but well below the rates registered for 2004 (19.1)
Crude death rate^ in 2006 stood at 4.5, relatively unchanged since 2004
Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2000 est.)
- note: does not reflect net flow of an unknown number of illegal immigrants from other countries in the region
Human sex ratio
Human sex ratio
In anthropology and demography, the human sex ratio is the sex ratio for Homo sapiens . Like most sexual species, the sex ratio is approximately 1:1. In humans the secondary sex ratio is commonly assumed to be 105 boys to 100 girls, an assumption that is a subject of debate in the scientific...

:
- at birth: 1.07 male(s)/female
- under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
- 15–64 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
- 65 years and over: 0.79 male(s)/female
- total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2005 est.)
Infant mortality rate:^ 6.6 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 data)
Life expectancy
Life expectancy
Life expectancy is the expected number of years of life remaining at a given age. It is denoted by ex, which means the average number of subsequent years of life for someone now aged x, according to a particular mortality experience...

at birth:
- total population: 74.05 years (at 1:1 male-to-female ratio)
- male: ^ 71.8 years (2006 data)
- female: ^ 76.3 years (2006 data)
Total fertility rate:
- 2.7 children born/woman (2010 est.)
- 2.98 children born/woman (2008 est.),
- 3.01 children born/woman (2007 est.),
- 3.04 children born/woman (2006 est.),
- 3.07 children born/woman (2005 est.)

In 1987, Malays had a TFR of 4.51, Chinese had TFR of 2.25 and Indians had TFR of 2.77. The corresponding figures in Singapore was 2.16, 1.48 and 1.95.

Data for (^) obtained from Department of Statistics releases. See notes. All key rates sampled per 1000 of population.

Ranking Census statistics Malaysia 2010.

Rank	State	Population 2010
1	Selangor Selangor Selangor also known by its Arabic honorific, Darul Ehsan, or "Abode of Sincerity") is one of the 13 states of Malaysia. It is on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and is bordered by Perak to the north, Pahang to the east, Negeri Sembilan to the south and the Strait of Malacca to the west...	5,411,324
2	Johor Johor Johor is a Malaysian state, located in the southern portion of Peninsular Malaysia. It is one of the most developed states in Malaysia. The state capital city and royal city of Johor is Johor Bahru, formerly known as Tanjung Puteri...	3,233,434
3	Sabah Sabah Sabah is one of 13 member states of Malaysia. It is located on the northern portion of the island of Borneo. It is the second largest state in the country after Sarawak, which it borders on its southwest. It also shares a border with the province of East Kalimantan of Indonesia in the south...	3,120,040
4	Sarawak Sarawak Sarawak is one of two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo. Known as Bumi Kenyalang , Sarawak is situated on the north-west of the island. It is the largest state in Malaysia followed by Sabah, the second largest state located to the North- East.The administrative capital is Kuching, which...	2,420,009
5	Perak Perak Perak , one of the 13 states of Malaysia, is the second largest state in the Peninsular Malaysia bordering Kedah and Yala Province of Thailand to the north, Penang to the northwest, Kelantan and Pahang to the east, Selangor the Strait of Malacca to the south and west.Perak means silver in Malay...	2,258,428
6	Kedah Kedah Kedah is a state of Malaysia, located in the northwestern part of Peninsular Malaysia. The state covers a total area of over 9,000 km², and it consists of the mainland and Langkawi. The mainland has a relatively flat terrain, which is used to grow rice...	1,890,098
7	Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...	1,627,172
8	Penang Penang Penang is a state in Malaysia and the name of its constituent island, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. It is bordered by Kedah in the north and east, and Perak in the south. Penang is the second smallest Malaysian state in area after Perlis, and the...	1,520,143
9	Kelantan Kelantan Kelantan is a state of Malaysia. The capital and royal seat is Kota Bharu. The Arabic honorific of the state is Darul Naim, ....	1,459,994
10	Pahang Pahang Pahang is the third largest state in Malaysia, after Sarawak and Sabah, occupying the huge Pahang River river basin. It is bordered to the north by Kelantan, to the west by Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, to the south by Johor and to the east by Terengganu and the South China Sea.Its state...	1,443,365
11	Terengganu Terengganu Terengganu is a sultanate and constitutive state of federal Malaysia. The state is also known by its Arabic honorific, Darul Iman...	1,015,776
12	Negeri Sembilan Negeri Sembilan Negeri Sembilan, one of the 13 states that constitutes Malaysia, lies on the western coast of Peninsular Malaysia, just south of Kuala Lumpur and borders Selangor on the north, Pahang in the east, and Malacca and Johor to the south....	997,071
13	Melaka	788,706
14	Perlis Perlis Perlis is the smallest state in Malaysia. It lies at the northern part of the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and has Satun and Songkhla Provinces of Thailand on its northern border. It is bordered by the state of Kedah to the south...	227,025
15	Labuan Labuan Labuan is a federal territory in East Malaysia. It is an island off the coast of the state of Sabah. Labuan's capital is Victoria and is best known as an offshore financial centre offering international financial and business services via Labuan IBFC since 1990 as well as being an offshore support...	85,272
16	Putrajaya Putrajaya Putrajaya is a planned city, located 25km south of Kuala Lumpur, that serves as the federal administrative centre of Malaysia. The seat of government was shifted in 1999 from Kuala Lumpur to Putrajaya, due to the overcrowding and congestion in the Kuala Lumpur areas...	67,964

Major cities

Kuala Lumpur

is the capital and largest city of Malaysia. Although many executive and judicial branches of the federal government have moved to Putrajaya

Putrajaya

Putrajaya is a planned city, located 25km south of Kuala Lumpur, that serves as the federal administrative centre of Malaysia. The seat of government was shifted in 1999 from Kuala Lumpur to Putrajaya, due to the overcrowding and congestion in the Kuala Lumpur areas...

, Kuala Lumpur is the seat of the Parliament of Malaysia

Parliament of Malaysia

The Parliament of Malaysia is the national legislature of Malaysia, based on the Westminster system. The bicameral parliament consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The King as the Head of State is the third component of Parliament....

, making it the country's legislative capital. It is also the economic and business centre of the country, and is a primate city

Primate city

A primate city is the leading city in its country or region, disproportionately larger than any others in the urban hierarchy. A 'primate city distribution' has one very large city with many much smaller cities and towns, and no intermediate-sized urban centres, in contrast to the linear 'rank-size...

. Kuala Lumpur is also rated as a global city

Global city

A global city is a city that is deemed to be an important node in the global economic system...

, and is the only global city in Malaysia. Along with Subang Jaya

Subang Jaya

Subang Jaya is a suburban city in the Klang Valley, Selangor, Malaysia. It comprises the southern third of the district of Petaling, and is home to a third of the district population of 1.78 million. Subang Jaya comprises , Bandar Sunway, UEP Subang Jaya, Putra Heights and Batu Tiga...

, Klang

Klang

, Petaling Jaya

Petaling Jaya

, Shah Alam

Shah Alam

Shah Alam is the state capital of Selangor, Malaysia situated within the Petaling District and a small portion of the neighboring Klang District. It is located about west of the country's capital, Kuala Lumpur. Shah Alam replaced Kuala Lumpur as the capital city of the state of Selangor in 1978...

, Kajang-Sungai Chua, Ampang Jaya and Selayang

Selayang

Selayang is the principal town of Gombak district in Selangor, Malaysia. The town is located about 10 km northwest from Kuala Lumpur, and a few kilometres from Batu Caves. A new township, Bandar Baru Selayang located just 2 km away and was named after the town, where the Selayang...

it forms the country's largest and most important urban area, the Klang Valley

Klang Valley

Klang Valley is an area in Malaysia comprising Kuala Lumpur and its suburbs, and adjoining cities and towns in the state of Selangor. An alternative reference to this would be Kuala Lumpur Metropolitan Area or Greater Kuala Lumpur. It is geographically delineated by Titiwangsa Mountains to the...

.

Johor Bahru

Johor Bahru

Johor Bahru is the capital city of Johor in southern Malaysia. Johor Bahru is the southernmost city of the Eurasian mainland...

is the second largest city and second largest urban area in the country. It is close to Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

, and receives more than 60% of the country's annual 16 million foreign tourists. The city is also an important industrial, tourism and commercial hub for southern Malaysia.

George Town

George Town, Penang

George Town was voted as one of the best cities in Asia by Asiaweek, ranked 6th in 1998 and 9th in 2000. More recently, George Town has improved a notch to rank as the 9th most liveable city in Asia in a survey of 254 cities worldwide according to an international location ratings survey by , an...

, situated in the state of Penang

Penang

, is the third largest city and fifth largest urban area in Malaysia. It used to be Malaysia's largest city until the 1970s when Kuala Lumpur became the capital. Today, the city remains a major hub in Malaysia, serving the northern region.

Other major cities in Malaysia include Ipoh

Ipoh

Ipoh is the capital city of Perak state, Malaysia. It is approximately 200 km north of Kuala Lumpur on the North-South Expressway....

, Kota Kinabalu

Kota Kinabalu

Kota Kinabalu , formerly known as Jesselton, is the capital of Sabah state in East Malaysia. It is also the capital of the West Coast Division of Sabah. The city is located on the northwest coast of Borneo facing the South China Sea. The Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park lies on one side and Mount...

and Kuching

Kuching

Kuching , officially the City of Kuching, and formerly the City of Sarawak, is the capital and most populous city of the East Malaysian state of Sarawak. It is the largest city on the island of Borneo, and the fourth largest city in Malaysia....

External links

Department of Statistics, Malaysia

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