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By SHYAFIQ DZULKIFLI PETALING JAYA: Are more Malaysians saying “I don’t” to marriage and opting to remain single? According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM), the number of males and females aged 15 and above listed as “never married” has gone up from 3.08 million in 1970 to 8.39 million in 2020. However, the percentage of single persons in relation to the country’s population has fallen, due to population growth over the years. In 1970 for instance, 53.6% of the population aged 15 and above were single. The figure has fallen to 34.01% in 2020. The data, contained in a report titled Key Findings Population and Housing Census of Malaysia 2020 . The report contains figures on the numbers and percentages of persons aged 15 and above in terms of marital status by dividing them into four categories. The categories are never married, married, widowed and divorced/separated. The report listed Malaysia’s population at 10.44 m...

By S HYAFIQ DZULKIFLI PETALING JAYA: Are more Malaysians saying “I don’t” to marriage and opting to remain single? According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM), the number of males and females aged 15 and above listed as “never married” has gone up from 3.08 million in 1970 to 8.39 million in 2020. However, the percentage of single persons in relation to the country’s population has fallen, due to population growth over the years. In 1970 for instance, 53.6% of the population aged 15 and above were single. The figure has fallen to 34.01% in 2020. The data, contained in a report titled Key Findings Population and Housing Census of Malaysia 2020 . The report contains figures on the numbers and percentages of persons aged 15 and above in terms of marital status by dividing them into four categories. The categories are never married, married, widowed and divorced/separated. The report listed Malaysia’s population at 10.44 m...

By YUEN MEIKENG and SHYAFIQ DZULKIFLI PETALING JAYA: Malaysia is fighting the biggest surge in Covid-19 cases it has seen this year. Infections climbed over the past two months, with several neighbouring countries also seeing a rise in cases. The following is a closer look at the current increase in cases, based on experts’ views and an analysis of data from the Health Ministry’s KKMNOW portal. Seasonal Covid After several lockdowns, cases fell from a seven-day average of 30,390 on March 10, 2022, to 1,244 on May 7, 2022. Covid-19 then became seasonal. The chart below shows what the ups and downs look like since 2022. Click “Play” to animate. Virologist Dr Jasmine Khairat said cases tend to rise in the middle and end of the year in Malaysia due to several reasons. One is the high rates of travel movements in and out of the country due to school and public holidays. “At the same time, it also coincides with the seasonal na...

Summary: Rapid rise of vaping among youths. By SHYAFIQ DZULKIFLI PETALING JAYA: Nearly one in five adolescents in Malaysia use tobacco products, underscoring the high stakes in the country's anti-smoking efforts. An anti-smoking law was passed by Parliament last month, but many lawmakers expressed disappointment during the debate over the removal of a generational endgame provision from the Bill. The following are key statistics on how young Malaysians are increasingly hooked on the habit.   Rise of vaping According to the Adolescent Health Survey 2022, 18.5% of adolescents (individuals aged between 13-17 years) use tobacco products. The survey by the Health ministry found e-cigarettes/vape use increasing from 9.8% in 2017 to 14.9% last year. Meanwhile, smoking cigarettes trend declined to 6.2% as compared to 2017 at 13.8%.       Boys most affected E-cigarette/vape prevalence in male adolescents is at 23.5%, almo...