Demographics of Penang

Penang is a diverse multiethnic and multicultural society. Residents of the state are colloquially known as Penangites or "Penang-lang". Traditionally regarded as a Chinese-majority state, the Bumiputera population, which includes ethnic Malays, has reached parity with that of the Chinese in recent years.
As of 2020, the population of Penang stood at 1,740,405, growing by about 1.3% annually. 1,599,874, or 91.9%, were Malaysian citizens, while 140,531 were non-citizens. Ethnic Chinese, Malays and Indians cumulatively comprised nearly 91% of Penang's population. Total fertility rate was 1.3 that year.
Penang has the highest population density of all Malaysian states at 1,659/km (4,300/sq mi), as well as an urbanisation rate of 92.5%, the second highest after Selangor. Seberang Perai, Malaysia's third largest city, was home to over 54% of Penang's population, while George Town contained nearly 46%. George Town serves as the core city of the George Town Conurbation, Malaysia's second largest metropolitan area, home to a population of over 2.84 million.
Islam is the state's official religion, but Buddhism, Hinduism and Christianity are cumulatively proscribed by over half of the state's population. Within Peninsular Malaysia, Penang is the only state with a non-Muslim majority. While Malay is the official language of Malaysia, English, Mandarin and Tamil are also widely used within Penang. Penang Hokkien, a variant of the Southern Min group of languages, remains the unofficial lingua franca in the state.
The state's diversified economy has made it one of the major recipients of interstate migrants within Malaysia. Between 2015 and 2016, Penang achieved the highest migration effectiveness ratio among Malaysian states. For every 100 Malaysians that migrated into and out of Penang, the state's population increased by 58 persons. The bulk of the interstate immigrants came from Perak, Selangor, Kedah, Johor and Kuala Lumpur.
Penang Island had been sparsely populated prior to the establishment of George Town. The first British visit to Penang in 1592 recorded no people on the island but did encounter a group of Orang Asli on the mainland.
Founded as an entrepot by Francis Light in 1786, George Town quickly experienced population growth fueled by immigration from various parts of Asia. At the time of George Town's establishment, Elisha Trapaud, a member of Light's landing party, described that the island was inhabited by “58 people in Malay-style houses”. Within two years, George Town's population reached 1,000, increasing to 12,000 by 1804.
An official census in 1881 showed that Penang had a population of 190,597, or about 45% of the Straits Settlements’ population. Penang continued to hold the majority of the Straits Settlements’ population until 1911, when Singapore's population surpassed Penang by 311,985 to 278,003. Within the settlement of George Town, ethnic Chinese comprised nearly 63% of the population in 1911. By 1921, the Chinese population of Penang outstripped that of the Malays by 135,288 to 110,382.
By the time Malaya gained independence in 1957, Penang held a population of more than half a million. By 1991, Penang's population had exceeded one million, with mainland Seberang Perai overtaking Penang Island in population at the same time. However, the state's population growth had begun to slow since the 1970s. In 2020, annual population growth was at 1.3%, a reduction from 2.1% in 2010.
As of 2020, Seberang Perai contained a population of 946,092, or more than 54% of Penang's population. This also made Seberang Perai the third largest city in Malaysia, after Kuala Lumpur and Kajang. George Town, the capital city of Penang, was home to 794,313 residents, or nearly 46% of the state's population. As George Town has a smaller land area, George Town's population density of 2,595.8/km (6,723/sq mi) was double that of Seberang Perai, which stood at 1,264.8/km (3,276/sq mi).
Within George Town, the areas with the highest density were Jelutong, Ayer Itam and Tanjong Tokong. The city centre had a population density of 6,209/km (16,080/sq mi). In Seberang Perai, Mukim 14 (Mak Mandin) recorded the highest population density, at 7,565/km (19,590/sq mi).
Ethnic Chinese immigrants and traders had arrived on Penang Island in the years immediately after the founding of George Town. Francis Light noted in his diary on 18 July 1786, one day after his arrival on the island, that a group of Chinese led by a “Captain China” presented him with a gift of fishing nets. Chinese settlers began arriving at what is now the city centre and Tanjong Tokong. Light regarded the Chinese as "a valuable acquisition" and "the only people of the [E]ast from whom a revenue [might] be raised without expense and extraordinary efforts of government". Under his successor George Alexander William Leith, the Chinese population grew to approximately 6,000, with the wealthier class owning "valuable estates, in land and houses", while artisans, labourers, fishermen and market. Gardeners commanded high wages because they were "laboriously good workmen".
The Peranakan Chinese soon evolved as an influential sub-group within George Town's Chinese community. Descendants of mixed Malay and Chinese ancestries who had inhabited the region for generations, the Peranakans adopted Malay socio-cultural traditions in terms of cuisine, attire and language, amalgamated with Chinese beliefs. There was a distinct preference for English-medium education and consequently, the Peranakans were known as the "King's Chinese" for their loyalty to the British Crown rather than China. They also retained significant influence in the city's commercial and societal spheres.
The Peranakans were distinct from waves of newer arrivals from China, known colloquially as “sin-kheh”. Originating from Fujian and Guangdong provinces, the “sin-kheh” were divided along dialect lines, establishing clan associations to assist new arrivals in accommodation, protection and employment. The Hokkiens and the Teochews formed the bulk of the new arrivals, and dominated trade, real estate, large plantation-scale commercial agriculture, and retail shopkeeping. The Cantonese arrived in smaller numbers, but were considered more hardy and robust, and they predominated as artisans and traders. Other dialect groups included the Hakkas and the Hainanese. The waves of Chinese immigration also created predominantly Chinese areas within George Town such as the Clan Jetties, while in mainland Province Wellesley (now Seberang Perai), cash crop industries attracted Teochew planters to areas like Bukit Mertajam, Bukit Tambun and Batu Kawan.
Native merchants from Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula actively traded in Penang following the establishment of George Town. Malay merchants traded rattan, agricultural produce such as sago, rice, pepper, spices, ivory, ebony, tin and gold, in exchange for European goods. On the island, Malays originally resided at the outskirts of the new settlement, such as at the Pinang River, Jalan Perak, Dato Keramat Road, Batu Uban and Teluk Duyung. By 1798, a "Malay town" had emerged to the south of Acheen Street.
In Province Wellesley (now Seberang Perai), Malays were primarily engaged in rural subsistence rice farming and coastal fishing. The Siamese invasion of neighbouring Kedah in 1821 forced an influx of Malay refugees into Province Wellesley, leading to an increase in the mainland territory's population to approximatelt 67,000 by 1858.
Apart from indigenous Malays, Penang also attracted immigrants from Sumatra and Java. Pepper trade drew in merchants from Aceh, which gradually assimilated with the local Malay community through commercial ties and intermarriages. Acehnese prominence in the pepper trade led to the emergence of a Malay Muslim entrepreneurial enclave centred at Acheen Street. Meanwhile, early Javanese settlers in Penang were engaged as workers in the spice and sugar plantations in Province Wellesley, as well as at the Eastern Smelting Company, George Town's sole tin smelting company. Dutch restrictions limited Javanese immigration to Penang, and the Javanese community in the colony was similarly assimilated into the wider Malay group.
Local academics and politicians allege that in the decades following Malaya's independence, rapid development and rising living costs have resulted in the displacement of ethnic Malays from the city centre of George Town to mainland Seberang Perai. By 1975, the majority of the land within the city centre was estimated to be owned by ethnic Chinese. This led to underlying communal tensions, with Malay organisations such as the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and the Penang Malays Association (Pemenang) aggressively advocating for development initiatives specifically tailored to Malays. Proposals have been made to establish a Malay enclave within downtown George Town, raising concerns about potential shifts in voting patterns.
Convicts from the Indian subcontinent were brought to Penang soon after the founding of George Town for public works. The transfer of convicts to Penang increased with the designation of Penang as a penal station in 1795, replacing Port Blair in the Andaman Islands. These arrivals were joined by soldiers from Madras – both Hindu and Muslim – who were deployed as Penang's garrison force. Commercial links with the Indian subcontinent also attracted merchants and labourers from Mumbai and Coromandel to Penang; the south Indian Muslim traders from the latter were referred to as “Chuliahs” by Francis Light himself.
North Indian arrivals included Bengalis, Parsees, Punjabis, Sindhis and Gujeratis. The northern Indians and Indian Muslims were prominently involved in wholesaling, retail and distribution trade. However, the Tamils of southern India soon formed the bulk of the Indian community in Penang. Tamils primarily worked as labourers, stevedores, plantation workers and in petty trading. Money lending also became the forte of the “chettiar”, a Hindu clan.
George Town has long been a home to the distinct Jawi Peranakan community, which descended from intermarriages between Indians and local Malay womenfolk, particularly from Kedah. The Jawi Peranakan traditionally dominated in money changing, jewellery, newspaper distribution, publishing, petty trading, and bakery and bread distributions. Staple dishes of the Jawi Peranakans such as nasi kandar and mee goreng have become among the more popular foods in Penang to this day.
Penang is home to a small Eurasian community, largely clustered around Kampung Serani in George Town. Descended from intermarriages between Europeans and Asians, Eurasians made up among the earliest immigrants to Penang; in 1786, soon after the establishment of George Town, a group of Eurasians from Kuala Kedah settled at China Street and Bishop Street. In the 1910s, another community of Eurasians from Phuket settled at what is now Kampung Serani. Those of Portuguese ancestry proscribed to the Catholic faith, while those with Anglo-Dutch lineage tended to be Protestants. The Eurasians in Penang share a common affinity with the Peranakan Chinese due to their mixed ancestries and their Western-oriented educational background, which also allowed the Eurasians to serve in clerical positions in the colonial bureaucracy, European businesses and the professions.
Kampung Siam in George Town is an enclave established by Siamese immigrants, centred around Wat Chayamangkalaram. The area had been cleared in 1795 and by 1830, there were 648 Siamese and Burmese residents in the new settlement. Siamese and Burmese settlers worked in cash crop plantations and petty trade. Intermarriages were common between the two ethnicities and the Chinese.
The close links between Siam and Penang were retained into the 20th century. In 1915, King Rama VI visited George Town, during which he laid the foundation stone of the Kek Lok Si's pagoda. In 1962, King Bhumibol Adulyadej unveiled the Reclining Buddha statue within Wat Chayamangkalaram, in a ceremony attended by thousands of local residents. To this day, Thailand maintains a consulate at Pulau Tikus, within the vicinity of Kampung Siam.
Islam is the official religion in Penang, prescribed by over 45% of the state's population in 2020. Penang is one of only two states where Islam is not in the majority, the other being Sarawak. Non-Muslims collectively formed almost 55% of Penang's population.
Buddhism is the second most proscribed religion in Penang, with nearly 37% of the population being adherents of either Theravada, Mahayana or Vajrayana sects. Notably, Theravada Buddhism is influenced by various countries of origin, with Thai, Burmese and Sinhalese temples established throughout George Town since the colonial era. Hindus made up the third largest religion in Penang, at over 8%, followed by the Christians at 4%. The first Eurasian settlers in George Town brought along Catholicism, while small numbers of missionaries from the London Missionary Society sought to evangelise the non-Christian population into Protestanism. Both sects also established some of George Town's oldest mission schools, including St Xavier's Institution, Convent Light Street and St. George's Girls' School.
The Penang state government maintains a policy of freedom of religion and religious assembly, and is also one of only three states in Malaysia to have a dedicated department for non-Muslim affairs. In 2021, the state government formed the Penang Harmony Corporation to further enhance interreligious harmony in the state. In particular, Pitt Street, within George Town's Central Business District (CBD), houses multiple places of worship belonging to Muslim, Taoist, Hindu and Christian communities, all located in close proximity to each other. This unique arrangement has earned Pitt Street the nickname "Street of Harmony".
In Penang's diverse urban community, Malay, English, Hokkien, Mandarin, and Tamil are commonly used languages. Penang is particularly renowned for its unique Penang Hokkien dialect.
Like the rest of Malaysia, Malay is the official language in Penang. The Jawi Peranakans in the state also use a variant of the Kedah Malay dialect, slightly modified to suit the conditions of a cosmopolitan society.
English had been the official language in Penang during British rule. The growth of English and mission schools throughout George Town contributed significantly to the widespread use of the language in the state. The importance of English for global trade has also encouraged its adoption by the Chinese and Indian communities. In recent years, there have been calls to reinstate English as one of Penang's official languages.
Tamil is the most widely spoken language amongst ethnic Indians. In addition to Tamil, the other Indian languages used by minority Indians are Telugu and Punjabi, who hailed from diverse ancestries in the Indian subcontinent. On the other hand, Penang's Chinese population uses a variety of Chinese dialects, including Teochew, Hakka and Cantonese. Mandarin, which is more commonly used by youths for pragmatic reasons, has been the medium of instruction in Chinese schools throughout the state.
Penang Hokkien serves as the lingua franca between the various ethnicities in Penang. Originally a variant of the Southern Min group of languages, the dialect has absorbed numerous loanwords from Malay and English, yet another legacy of the Peranakan Chinese culture. Community efforts have been made to preserve the relevance of Penang Hokkien in the face of the rising prevalence of Mandarin and English among youths.
As of 2020, Penang was the second “oldest” state in the country after Perak. 14.9% of Penang's population were aged 60 and older, and it was anticipated that the state will have the highest proportion of residents over 60s in Malaysia by 2040. The state and local governments have begun formulating age-friendly policies to support a rapidly ageing population, including more inclusive infrastructure, improving access to healthcare and encouraging active ageing.