Malaysian Indians
Orang India Malaysia | |
|---|---|
| Total population | |
| 2,019,600 6.6% of the Malaysian population (2020) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| West coast of Peninsular Malaysia
(mostly in Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Perak, Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Kedah and Johor) Singapore (20,483 in 2010) | |
| Languages | |
| Malaysian Tamil/Tamil (majority) • English • Malay • Melayu Chetty • Other Indian languages such as Punjabi, Telugu, Malayalam and others | |
| Religion | |
| Predominantly Hinduism Minorities Christianity · Islam · Buddhism · Sikhism · Jainism · Zoroastrianism · Baháʼí | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Indian Tamils, Sri Lankan Tamils, Telugus, Malayalis, Chindians, Chitty, Burmese Tamils, Dravidians, Indian Singaporeans, Indo-Mauritians, Indo-Fijians, Indians in South Africa, Indian diaspora in Southeast Africa, Indo-Caribbeans |
Indo-Malaysians are Malaysian of South Asian ancestry. Most are descendants of those who migrated from India to British Malaya from the mid-19th to the mid-20th centuries. Most Malaysian Indians are ethnic Tamils; smaller groups include the Malayalees, Telugus and Punjabis. Malaysian Indians form the fifth-largest community of Overseas Indians in the world. In Malaysia, they represent the third-largest group, constituting 7% of the Malaysian population, after the Bumiputera (combined grouping of ethnic Malays and other indigenous groups) and the Chinese. They are usually referred to simply as "Indians" in English, Orang India in Malay, "Yin du ren" in Chinese.
Malaysia's Indian population is notable for its class stratification, with a significant elite and a large low income group within its fold. Malaysian Indians large percentage of professionals per capita by constituting 15.5% of Malaysia's professionals in 1999 has been reduced with substantial population close to 40% is now considered the B40 category. In the 1984 census, up to 38% of the nation's medical professional workforce consisted of Malaysian Indians, but this has been since been reduced. In 1970, the per-capita income of Malaysian Indians was 76% higher than that of the Malay majority. Despite attempts by the Malaysian government to redistribute wealth since the 1970s through institutionalized racial policy, by 2005 Malaysian Indians still earned a 27% higher per capita income than that of the dominant Malay community.