The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) has published its latest report predicting that the country’s population will reach 42.38 million by 2059. This is the country’s peak population before it is expected to decline again after that.
By the end of this decade, the population will reach 36.49 million. Currently, Malaysia has a population of 34.2 million according to a DOSM report in February. In 2030, the male population will be higher than the female population with a ratio of 112:100. Of this number, 32.8 million Malaysians are citizens and the remaining 3.7 million are non-citizens.
In Malaysia, the birth rate is 1.6 babies per woman which is a sharp decline compared to 6 babies per woman in 1957 and 2.1 babies per woman in 2010. A birth rate of 2.1 babies per woman is needed to maintain a country’s population.
Malaysia's population decline after 2059 will occur earlier than the UN which predicted the world's population would peak in 2084 at 10.29 billion. After that, the population will decline due to economic factors, the importance given to careers, urbanization, higher levels of female education, access to contraception and a new generation that refuses to marry.