[Topic : Demographic Transition in Malaysia: The Changing Roles of Women from 1910-2010]

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Abstract

Malaysia experienced demographic transition as it swung from agricultural-based economy in

early 19th century to knowledge-based economy in the mid of 1990s. Stage one of the demographic transitions began in 1911-1927 (16 years) subsequently entered stage two in 1928-1957 (29 years), before settling to stage three in 1958 till present. An examination of the demographic transition showed that Malaysia experienced decline in total fertility rate from 6.0 in 1960 to 4.0 in 1980, down 3.0 in 2000 and continued to drop to 2.3 in 2010. This contributed by the change in the age structure, from younger population in 1970's became slightly older in 2010. Share of the population below ages 14 years declined from 44.9 per cent in 1970 to 33.3 per cent in 2000 and the percentage decreased further to 27.2 per cent in 2010. In terms of mortality, the crude death rate showed a declining trend from 9.5 in 1960 to 4.9 in 2010. This resulted in the increase in life expectancy from 61.7 to 71.6 years for male and 65.6 and 76.8 years for female for the period 1970 to 2008.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction

Malaysia is a multi-racial country with more than 70 identified ethnic groups. These ethnic groups are broadly classified into four major groups namely Bumiputera (inclusive of Malay and Indigenous), Chinese, Indians and Others (include non-Malaysian citizen). The population of Malaysia in 2010 was 28.3 million with an annual population growth rate of 1.9 per cent. Bumiputera, the main ethnic constituted 60.3 per cent of the total population followed by Chinese and Indians at 22.9 and 6.8 per cent respectively. The population is estimated to achieve 31.6 million in 2020. For the bulk of the twentieth century, prior to World War II, population growth was characterised by large-scale immigration of Chinese and Indians. After the war, with the cessation of immigration, natural increase began to play a dominant role in population growth. From the late 1950s, Malaysia was poised for rapid population growth from high fertility as the large cohort of post-war baby boomers began to marry and have children 2 . The industrial transformation during the 1980s and the early 1990s shifted to a more export-led industrialisation and the infusion of foreign direct investment. This resulted in high economic and employment growth which the labour markets could not provide. Thus, migrant workers from neighbouring countries were desired as workers in these sectors. By 2000 the number of foreign workers in Malaysia was ...