6.7 percent ethnic Indians in Malaysia
Kuala Lumpur, Dec 23, 2011: Around 6.7 percent of Malaysia's total population of 27.5 million are people of Indian origin, according to the country's latest census report.
The decennial census report was released by the statistics department Thursday, Xinhua reported. Ten years ago, Malaysia's population was 22.2 million.
Of the 27.5 million people counted till 2010, ethnic Malays made up 50.1 percent, followed by ethnic Chinese at 22.5 percent, natives at 11.8 percent and ethnic Indians at 6.7 percent, the report said.
Around 71 percent reside in urban areas. Capital city Kuala Lumpur alone has the largest population of 1.58 million.
The report said ethnic Chinese women in the country were the longest living with an average life expectancy of 79.8 years while men lived for an average 71.9 years and women in general for 77 years.
About five percent of the population was 65 and above.
Nor Mohamed Yakcop, minister in charge of the economic planning unit, said Malaysia was not aging and would only reach that stage in 2025.
The median age at first marriage for women was 26. The figure is expected to rise with more women participating in the workforce, he said........IANS
