More male population in Sabah
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah population is expected to hit the four million mark by 2020, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Panglima Abdul Rahman Dahlan.
The minister said that at 3.9 million, Sabah currently represents 12.1 % of the total national population and is the second most populous state after Selangor.
The male population in Sabah is higher, which is two million or 52.3%, said Rahman in a speech which was delivered on his behalf by Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin at the launch of Population and Housing Census of Malaysia 2020 (MyCensus 2020) in Likas Sports Complex here yesterday.
“In Kota Kinabalu, the population is 553,900 where males account for 51.5 percent while the females 48.5 percent.
“Based on the Report of Household Income And Basic Amenities Survey 2016 publication, the median household income in this administrative district is RM5,683 a month compared to the RM5,228 Malaysia level,” he revealed.
Rahman said Malaysia’s current population is 33 million, with 28.7 million or 89.7% being Malaysians while 3.3 million or 10.3% are foreigners.
He said the total population is expected to reach 33.8 million by 2020.
However, Rahman said that obtaining better data to improve lives requires substantial costs and involves all the population of Malaysia.
In this regard, he said the support and involvement of each and everyone is crucial in ensuring the success of the MyCensus 2020 so that precise census can be used to formulate evidence-based policy.
“Everyone wants basic facilities. For example, roads. The Federal Government has approved the construction of the Pan Borneo Highway connecting Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei at an estimated cost of RM27 billion,” he pointed out.
“To build this highway, information on population size, number of houses, industrial areas is really needed to plan a more systematic highway development at minimal cost but with huge impact on the people.
“All the statistics mentioned above can be obtained from the census,” he explained.
Malaysia has implemented five Population and Housing Censuses since 1970.
This year, Sabah was chosen to launch DOSM’s sixth census MyCensus 2020.
It was launched here to inform the rakyat, which include all government agencies, private sector, universities and schools as well as the general public on the implementation of MyCensus in 2020.
The census provides demographic and socioeconomic characteristics as well as population and housing profiles.
From the census results, the government can provide various programs and developments that will be able to benefit the rakyat.