Population: 21,376,066 (July 1999 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 35% (male 3,879,012; female 3,680,895)
15-64 years: 61% (male 6,478,910; female 6,482,909)
65 years and over: 4% (male 369,639; female 484,701) (1999 est.)

Population growth rate: 2.08% (1999 est.)

Birth rate: 26.05 births/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Death rate: 5.29 deaths/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1999 est.)
note: does not include illegal immigrants—large numbers from Indonesia and smaller numbers from the Philippines, Bangladesh, Burma, China, and India

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.76 male(s)/female
total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (1999 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 21.68 deaths/1,000 live births (1999 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 70.67 years
male: 67.62 years
female: 73.9 years (1999 est.)

Total fertility rate: 3.35 children born/woman (1999 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Malaysian(s)
adjective: Malaysian

Ethnic groups: Malay and other indigenous 58%, Chinese 26%, Indian 7%, others 9%

Religions: Islam, Buddhism, Daoism, Hinduism, Christianity, Sikhism; note—in addition, Shamanism is practiced on East Malaysia

Languages: Bahasa Melayu (official), English, Chinese dialects (Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien, Hakka, Hainan, Foochow), Tamil, Telugu, Malalalam, Panjabi, Thai; note—in addition, in East Malaysia several indigenous languages are spoken, the largest of which are Iban and Kadazan

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 83.5%
male: 89.1%
female: 78.1% (1995 est.)