Ageing in Malaysia: Progress and prospects

Introduction This chapter updates and extends the review of national policies on ageing in Malaysia provided by Ong (2002), with a current review of how Malaysia is putting in place policies and programmes to address the challenges of ageing. Malaysia is a multi-ethnic country with a population of 27.17 million (Department of Statistics Malaysia 2007) made up of three major ethnic groups: Malay, Chinese and Indians. It is a fast industrialising middle income country, with an economic growth rate of 6.3 per cent for 2007 (UNESCAP 2008). Its aggressive development strategies and economic growth will impact on the future plans of action for ageing; with increasing urbanisation and changes in the structure of labour force participation, retirement ages are expected to rise. Moreover, labour force participation among women will increase, affecting family availability of female carers for older people. Associated changes such as the development of community care are expected to affect profoundly how individuals, family and society deal with ageing and its related issues.