ABSTRACT
The census exercise of 2010 reported that the population of Malaysia stands at 28.3 million, an increase from 23.3 million in 2000. 1 About 80 percent of the population currently resides in Peninsular Malaysia and the rest in the East Malaysian territories of Labuan, Sabah and Sarawak. The average growth rate of 2 percent for the period 2000–10 was lower than that of the previous censal period (1991–2000) of 2.6 percent, and indicates an overall decline in fertility and international migration rates. The age structure of the population also points toward an ageing population. Per the present trajectory, it is projected that by 2021, the population aged 65 years and over will have reached 7.1 percent, an increase of 2.1 percent from the 2010 level. This points to a trend faced by many developed nations, of the working age (15–64 years) population’s having to support an increasing old-age population.
