PUTRAJAYA, March 8 — The number of Local Authority Areas (LAAs) in the country increased to 155 in 2020 from 148 in 2010, according to the “Key Findings of Population and Housing Census of Malaysia 2020: Local Authority Area” released today.
The findings said this was due to the natural increase in population, upgrading of LAAs, creation of new local authorities, and division of boundaries.
Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin, in a statement, said that in 2020 LAAs had a combined population of 32.1 million, or 99.1 per cent of the country’s population of 32.4 million.
LAAs consist of city halls, city councils, municipal councils, district council and modified LAAs, which are determined by the population size and income turnover.
Perbadanan Putrajaya recorded the highest distribution of young age population (0-14 years) at 38.0 per cent, while Kinabatangan District Council had the highest working age population (15-64 years) at 78.8 per cent.
“Lenggong District Council and Lubok Antu District Council recorded the highest ageing population at 13.5 per cent,” he said.
Mohd Uzir said the number of living quarters in LAAs was recorded at 9.5 million, with 3.9 million or 40.6 per cent in city halls or city councils, 3.4 million (36.0 per cent) in municipal councils, 2.2 million (22.6 per cent) in district councils and 67,000 in modified LAAs.
“From the 9.5 million living quarters, 7.7 million or 80.7 per cent were occupied and the remaining 1.8 million or 19.3 per cent were vacant,” he said.
Mohd Uzir said in terms of access to facilities, 89.6 per cent of the respondents indicated that education centres were in close proximity, followed by health facilities (77.2 per cent), police stations (66.5 per cent) and fire stations (47.6 per cent).
— Bernama
