Census in Malaysia

Urban areas adopted by the previous censuses refer to gazetted local council areas with a specified population threshold. The urban areas in Census 1980 refers to a gazetted area with population of 10,000 persons or more.

Urban areas in Census 1991 and 2000, were defined as gazetted areas with their adjoining built-up areas which had a combined population of 10,000 or more. Built-up areas were defined as areas contiguous to a gazetted area and had at least 60 per cent of their population (aged 10 and above) engaged in non-agricultural activities as well as having modern toilet facilities in their housing units. The definition of urban areas for Census 2000 also takes into account the special development area namely development area which is not gazetted and can be identified and separated from the gazetted area or built-up area of more than 5 km and a population of at least 10,000 with 60 per cent of their population (aged 10 and above) engaged in non-agricultural activities as well as having modern toilet facilities in their housing units.

Meanwhile, urban areas in Census 2010, were defined as:

Gazetted areas with their adjoining built-up areas which had a combined population of 10,000 or more. Built-up areas were defined as areas contiguous to a gazetted areas and had at least 60 per cent of their population (aged 15 years and above) engaged in non-agricultural activities. The definition of urban areas also takes into account the special development area namely development area which is not gazetted and can be identified and separated from the gazetted area or built-up area of more than 5 km and a population of at least 10,000 with 60 per cent of their population (aged 15 and above) engaged in non-agricultural activities as well as having modern toilet facilities in their housing units.

Urbanisation is a dynamic process and keeps changing with development and growth. Thus, the urban areas for 1980, 1991, 2000 and 2010 Censuses do not necessarily refer to the same areas, as areas fulfilling the above criteria of urban continue to expand and grow.

Classification of 2010 Census ethnic group is as set by Inter-Agency Technical Committee (IATC) in Appendix 1. IATC is a committee formed to co-ordinate and monitor the implementation and use of standardised codes, classifications and definitions used by the Department of Statistics, Malaysia and other government agencies. For the purpose of tabulation and analysis, as well as taking into account the diverse ethnic group in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah, Federal Territory of Labuan and Sarawak, major ethnic groups according to region as follows:

Peninsular Malaysia	Sabah and Federal Territory of Labuan	Sarawak
Malaysian Citizens
Bumiputera Malay	Bumiputera Malay Kadazan-Dusun Bajau Murut	Bumiputera Malay Iban Bidayuh Orang Ulu Melanau
Other Bumiputera Negrito Senoi Melayu Asli / Proto-Malay Bajau Balabak / Molbog Bidayuh Bisaya / Bisayah Bukitan Bulongan Dusun Iban Idah / Ida'an Iranun / Ilanun Jawi Peranakan Kadayan / Kedayan Kadazan Kajang Kanowit Kayan Kejaman Kelabit Kenyah Kristang Lahanan Lisum Lugat Lun Bawang Lundayuh / Lundayeh Malay Bruneian Melanau Murut Orang Sungai / Sungoi Penan Peranakan Punan Rungus Sabup Sekapan Siamese Sian Sipeng Suluk / Tausug Tabun Tagal Tanjong Tidung Ukit Other Sabah Bumiputera Other Sarawak Bumiputera
Other Malays / Anak Dagang Indonesian Malay Acehnese Banjarese Batak Cham Buginese Javanese Mandailing Minangkabau Sundanese Other ethnic groups from Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand
Non-Bumiputera Chinese Cantonese Fuzhounese Hainanese Henghua Fuqing Hokchiu Hokkien Hui Khek / Hakka Guangxi Teochew / Chaoshanese Other Chinese Indian Muslim Indian / Malabari Malayali Punjabi Sikh Sinhalese Tamil Indian Tamil Sri Lankan Telugu Other Indians Others Arab Bangladeshi Burmese Cambodian Cocos Islander Filipino Japanese Korean Nepalese Pakistani Russian Thai Turkish Vietnamese Other Asian Nationality British Danish Dutch English French German Irish Italian Portuguese Scottish Spanish Other European Nationality African American Australian New Zealander Eurasian Other Nationality
Non-Malaysian Citizens (including Permanent Residents)
African Arab Bangladeshi Burmese Chinese nationals East Timorese Filipino Indian nationals Indonesian Iranian Japanese Korean Nepalese Pakistani Sri Lankan Thai Vietnamese Refugee / Refugee Article 1/1951 / United Nations Specialised Agency / United Nations Organisation / Unspecified Nationality Stateless / Stateless Person Article 1/1954 Other Nationality

Information collected in the census including ethnic group and citizenship was based on respondent's answer and did not refer to any official document.

Information on citizenship should be used with caution as it is subject to content and coverage errors especially for non-citizens as in censuses in most countries.

The average annual growth rate was calculated as ${\displaystyle r=\left({\frac {1}{n}}\ln {\frac {P_{n}}{P_{0}}}\right)\times 100\%,}$ where ${\displaystyle r}$ is the average annual population growth rate, ${\displaystyle n}$ is the exact number of years between ${\displaystyle P_{0}}$ is the population tally in the initial and ${\displaystyle P_{n}}$ in the ${\displaystyle n}$th year.

The density of persons per square kilometre is the ratio of the population of a given geographic area to the number of square kilometres in the same area.

The median age is the age that divides the distribution of the population into two, such that half the population is below the age and half is above it.

Dependency ratio refers to the ratio of the number of persons below the age of 15 years and the number of persons aged 65 years and over to the number of persons aged 15–64 years; multiplied by 100.

The sex ratio is the number of females per 1000 males.

• Never married
  • Refers to persons who were never married
• Married
  • Refers to persons who were currently married at the time of enumeration. The term 'married', includes those married by law or by religious rites or were living together by mutual agreement.
• Widowed
  • Refers to those whose marriages were terminated through death of their spouses and were not remarried at the time of enumeration.
• Divorced / permanently separated
  • Refers to those whose marriages were terminated through divorce by law or religion agreement or separated for a long duration without any possibility of reconciliation.

The mean age at first marriage refers to the singulate mean age at marriage which is an indicate measure of the mean age at first marriage among those who would ever marry. It is derived from the proportions never married at different age groups.

Refers to the identification or relationship of an individual to a system of beliefs and the practice of these beliefs. For the purpose of tabulation and analysis, the classification for religion is as follows:

• Islam;
• Christianity;
• Buddhism;
• Hinduism;
• Confucianism, Taoism and Tribal / Folk / Other traditional Chinese religion;
• Other religion including Sikhism and Bahai;
• No religion; and
• Unknown.

After the year 2000, there were several new areas created or boundary changes that were gazetted by the relevant authority for federal territory and administrative districts. The new federal territory created was Putrajaya. Meanwhile, the new administrative districts such as Ledang and Kulaijaya in Johor; Pokok Sena in Kedah; Kampar in Perak; Putatan in Sabah; and Pakan and Selangau in Sarawak.

• Population and Housing Census of Malaysia, 2010

• Saw Swee-Hock (6 January 2015), The Population of Malaysia (Second Edition), Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, ISBN 978-981-4620-36-9