THE total Bumiputera population this year is estimated to be 21.1 million, with a growth rate of 1.1% compared to 20.9 million last year, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia.

In a statement today, the department said men (10.7 million) outnumbered women (10.4 million), with a gender ratio of 102 males for every 100 females.

“In terms of demographic statistics, the number of live births for Bumiputera in 2021 was 357,140 with the life expectancy at birth being 70.5 years for males and 74.7 years for females.

“Meanwhile, the total fertility rate for a Bumiputera female decreased to 2.1 in 2021 from 2.2 in 2020,” the department said.

The Bumiputera Statistics 2022 was issued for the first time today, which also displays selected Bumiputera statistics in the social and economic area at the national and state levels from 2017 to 2022.

According to the department, the number of deaths for Bumiputera recorded in 2021 was 138,868, with three medically confirmed main causes: Covid-19 (17,654 deaths), ischemic heart diseases (13,563 deaths), and pneumonia (10,914 deaths).

There were 9.26 million Bumiputeras of working age in 2021, which comprised 5.58 million males and 3.68 million females.

“In 2021, 64.8% of the Bumiputera workforce had secondary school education or below, while 35.2% had achieved tertiary education, compared to 34.7% in 2020.

The department added that the number of Bumiputera graduates registered in 2021 was 3.63 million, with 1.63 million of them being males and 2 million females.

On the other hand, according to the department, the unemployment rate among Bumiputeras had risen 0.5% to 5% in 2021.

For property transfer in 2021, the department said a total of 106,276 transactions with a value of RM30.8 billion were recorded for residential property and 2,834 transactions with a transfer value of RM1.45 billion were registered for commercial property.

Meanwhile, it said the number of Bumiputeras registered at the General Welfare Institution under the Social Welfare Department in 2021 increased to 3,228 persons from 2,948 persons recorded the previous year.

“Out of the total, 1,402 people were in child care centres, 495 persons in institutions for disabled, and 1,051 persons were in institutions for elderly and destitute,” it said. – Bernama, December 6, 2022.