KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 10 — The country's population in the fourth quarter of 2020 was estimated at 32.73 million, an increase of 0.4 per cent year-on-year.

According to data from the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) released today, 121,251 live births were recorded in the fourth quarter of 2020, which is a decrease by 2.5 per cent as compared to the same period in 2019.

Chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin in a statement said 44,390 deaths were recorded in the fourth quarter of 2020 — a drop of 0.4 per cent as compared to the same period during 2019.

"The current number of citizens in Malaysia is 29.85 million while non-citizen is 2.87 million,” he said.

On the population by age for the fourth quarter of 2020, Mohd Uzir said there are 7.57 million for the age of zero to 14 years old while 2.34 million for those above the age of 65.

"The population for those aged between 15 to 64 years old is 22.82 million compared to the same period in 2019 which was 22.72 million,” he said.

It was reported last month, that the second phase of the Malaysian Population and Housing Census 2020 which involves face-to-face interviews will be restructured based on three categories of the movement control order (MCO) implementation.

The DOSM's Office of the Census Commissioner 2020 said that the standard operating procedure of the Census Operations at the Malaysia Census 2020 field activities, approved by the National Security Council, will be used in the second phase of the census.

Apart from that, according to the office, face-to-face census is allowed to be carried out in the areas of recovery movement control order and conditional movement control order, while it is not allowed in MCO and enhanced movement control order areas.