Ethnic origins of people in Malaysia explained

Given here are the ethnic origins of Malaysian residents (citizens, landed immigrants, and non-citizen temporary residents) as recorded by them on their 2010 census form. The relevant census question asked for "the ethnic or cultural origins" of the respondent's ancestors and not the respondents themselves.

As data were collected by self-declaration, labels may not necessarily describe the true ancestry of respondents. Also note that many respondents acknowledged multiple ancestries. These people were added to the "multiple origin" total for each origin listed. These include responses as varied as a respondent who listed eight different origins and a respondent who answered "Chinese Malaysian" (leading to him/her being counted once for "Chinese" and once for "Malaysian"). As with all self-reported data, understanding of the question may have varied from respondent to respondent.

Classification of 2010 Census ethnic group is as set by Inter-Agency Technical Committee (IATC) in Appendix 1. IATC is a committee formed to co-ordinate and monitor the implementation and use of standardised codes, classifications and definitions used by the Department of Statistics, Malaysia and other government agencies. For the purpose of tabulation and analysis, as well as taking into account the diverse ethnic group in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah, Federal Territory of Labuan and Sarawak, major ethnic groups according to region as follows:

Peninsular Malaysia	Sabah and Federal Territory of Labuan	Sarawak
Malaysian Citizens
Bumiputera Malay	Bumiputera Malay Kadazan-Dusun Bajau Murut	Bumiputera Malay Iban Bidayuh Orang Ulu Melanau
Other Bumiputera Negrito Senoi Melayu Asli / Proto-Malay Bajau Balabak / Molbog Bidayuh Bisaya / Bisayah Bukitan Bulongan Dusun Iban Idah / Ida'an Iranun / Ilanun Kadayan / Kedayan Kadazan Kajang Kanowit Kayan Kejaman Kelabit Kenyah Lahanan Lisum Lugat Lun Bawang Lundayuh / Lundayeh Malay Bruneian Melanau Murut Orang Sungai / Sungoi Penan Punan Rungus Sabup Sekapan Sian Siamese Sipeng Suluk / Tausug Tabun Tagal Tanjong Tidung Ukit Other Sabah Bumiputera Other Sarawak Bumiputera
Other Malays/ Anak Dagang Indonesian Malay Acehnese Banjarese Batak Buginese Javanese Mandailing Minangkabau Sundanese Other ethnic groups from Indonesia
Non-Bumiputera Chinese Cantonese Foochow Hainanese Henghua Hokchia Hokchiu Hokkien Khek / Hakka Kwongsai Teochew / Chaoshanese Other Chinese Indian Muslim Indian / Malabari Malayali Punjabi Sikh Sinhalese Tamil Indian Tamil Sri Lankan Telugu Other Indians Others Arab Bangladeshi Burmese Cambodian Cocos Islander Filipino Japanese Korean Nepalese Pakistani Thai Vietnamese Other Asian Nationality British Danish English French German Irish Italian Scottish Spanish Other European Nationality African American Australian New Zealander Eurasian Other Nationality
Non-Malaysian Citizens (including Permanent Residents)
African Arab Bangladeshi Burmese Chinese East Timorese Filipino Indian Indonesian Iranian Japanese Korean Nepalese Pakistani Sri Lankan Thai Vietnamese Refugee / Refugee Article 1/1951 / United Nations Specialised Agency / United Nations Organisation / Unspecified Nationality Stateless / Stateless Person Article 1/1954 Other Nationality

Information collected in the census including ethnic group and citizenship was based on respondent's answer and did not refer to any official document.

Information on citizenship should be used with caution as it is subject to content and coverage errors especially for non-citizens as in censuses in most countries.