INTERACTIVE: The numbers behind Malaysia’s singles population.

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 million in 1970 and 32.45 million in 2020.





The following is a closer look at the “never married” group in Malaysia.



More single males than females


According to the report, more males opted for unmarried life as compared to females. 


In 2020, a total of 4.87mil males surveyed were single compared to 3.52mil females.





Ten states or federal territories in Malaysia have a bigger share of singles in their populations compared to the current national average of 34.01%.


Pahang is tops with nearly half or 45.7% of its population aged 15 and above categorised as single.


Kelantan is second (40.2%), followed by Perlis (38.8%), Terengganu (37.8%) and Johor (36.8%).


Negeri Sembilan meanwhile has the smallest share of singles at 27%.



Asean single population


The Asean country with the highest percentage of single people aged 15 and above is Brunei, according to the United Nations (UN) Demographic Statistics Database.


Over 38% of the Sultanate’s population is never married as at 2021.


In the UN’s dataset, Malaysia’s single population ranked second with Cambodia third at 32.7%.





Singapore is relatively in the middle of the pack with 315,305 people in the never-married group per one million population.


Vietnam and Indonesia meanwhile have the lowest percentage of single people in the region, according to the UN’s figures.


In both countries, less than 23% of its population aged 15 years and above are never married, with Indonesia at 22.9% and Vietnam at 22.5%.


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