Kuala Lumpur, Jul 31 (IANS): Malaysia's population is expected to grow 2.1 per cent in 2023, led by international migration, official data showed on Monday.

The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said in a statement that the total population of Malaysia in 2023 is estimated at 33.4 million as compared to 32.7 million in 2022, reports Xinhua news agency.

According to the DOSM, the increase in population growth rate is due to the higher number of non-citizens which is likely to increase from 2.5 million in 2022 to 3 million in 2023.

The citizens population is also projected to increase from 30.2 million in 2022 to 30.4 million in 2023 with a marginal growth of 0.7 per cent.

The composition of the citizen population, however, is seen to decrease from 92.4 per cent in 2022 to 91.1 per cent in 2023.

This is attributed to the increase in the composition of the non-citizen population from 7.6 per cent to 8.9 per cent during the same period.

The increase is in line with the re-opening of national borders from April 1, 2022 and the implementation of the Employment Recalibration Program 2.0 (which legalizes foreign workers in Malaysia) from January 2023.

According to the DOSM, males will outnumber females in 2023 with 17.5 million and 15.9 million, respectively.

The sex ratio for the overall population is 110 males for every 100 females.

The composition of the population aged 15-64 years (working age) is projected to increase from 69.6 per cent in 2022 to 70.0 per cent in 2023.

The percentage of the population aged 65 years and over (old age) is expected to increase from 7.2 per cent to 7.4 per cent for the same period.

Meanwhile, the composition of population aged 0-14 years (young age) in 2023 is forecast to decrease to 22.6 per cent as compared to 23.2 per cent in 2022.

The median age of Malaysia's population reached 30.7 years in 2023, up from 30.4 years in the previous year.