DOSM: Q3 deadliest quarter, Covid-19 main contributor
The third quarter of this year was the deadliest in the history of the Covid-19 pandemic in Malaysia, with the virus being the "main contributor" to a sharp spike in deaths in the country.
In that quarter, 21,165 people died of Covid-19, making up about a third of all deaths in the months of July, August and September this year.
The total number of people who died in those months was...
The third quarter of this year was the deadliest in the history of the Covid-19 pandemic in Malaysia, with the virus being the "main contributor" to a sharp spike in deaths in the country.
In that quarter, 21,165 people died of Covid-19, making up about a third of all deaths in the months of July, August and September this year.
The total number of people who died in those months was 65,584, a jump of 61.5 percent compared to the same quarter last year, Department of Statistics (DOSM) director Mohd Uzir Mahidin said in its latest demographic statistics released today.
In contrast, in the second quarter of this year, there was a jump of about 10 percent relative to Q2 2020.
Selangor registered the highest number of deaths due to Covid-19 in Q3 2021, with 7,788 deaths while Putrajaya registered the lowest with only nine deaths.
Uzir said the rise of Covid-19 deaths in Malaysia in the third quarter of this year matches global trends.
The spike in deaths and hospitalisations worldwide have been largely attributed to the more contagious Delta variant of the virus.
Ageing population
Meanwhile, there was a slight 0.5 percent decrease in live births recorded in the same quarter to 120,147 births.
Most babies born were boys with 61,613 boys compared to 58,534 girls.
Similarly, 16.77 million of the population are male while 15.89 million are female - a sex ratio of 106 males per 100 females.
The composition of the population who are aged 65 and older also increased from 2.32 million to 2.41 million in the same period, while those aged zero-14 decreased from 7.57 million in Q3 2020 to 7.52 million in Q3 2021.
"The decline in the number of births is in line with other countries such as the United States, Republic of Korea, United Kingdom, France and Spain," Uzir said.
Ethnic composition remained stable in the same period, with 69.6 percent bumiputera (20.7 million,), 22.6 percent ethnic Chinese (6.7 million), 6.8 percent ethnic Indian (2 million) and 1 percent others (0.3 million).
The DOSM did not provide a breakdown of Malay and non-Malay bumiputera.
Meanwhile, at 2.65 million, non-Malaysians make up 8 percent of all residents.
The DOSM added that quality checks and post-enumeration surveys are now ongoing for the 2020 Malaysian census, and as such the data released on the national demographics may later be revised to reflect that.
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