The census in Malaysia, or officially, the Population and Housing Census, is a descriptive count of everyone who is in Malaysia on the Census Day, and of their dwellings. The decennial Malaysian census has been conducted six times, As of 2010. It has been conducted every 10 years, beginning in 1960.
 The decennial publication provides users with the final Malaysian Census population figures for basic demographic characteristics such as gender, age distribution, ethnic group, citizenship, religion and marital status at the state and the administrative district levels. Some of the tables also provide a breakdown by urban and rural areas.
 Malaysia consists of thirteen states and three federal territories. Each state is divided into several administrative districts. In Kelantan, the administrative district is known as "Jajahan". Each state is also stratified into urban and rural areas. Urban and rural areas are not legally defined administrative areas but are statistically defined to distinguish areas with certain socio-economic characteristics.
 The data in the decennial publication represent final Malaysian Census population figures for respective decades. As in censuses in most other countries, the information obtained during enumeration is subject to coverage and content errors. In term of coverage errors, part of living quarters, households or population maybe left out, erroneously included or duplicated. Content errors in particular were based on erroneous responses on gender, age, ethnic group, citizenship, religion and marital status. As a result, the figures were "adjusted" based on the estimates of under-enumeration derived from the Census Coverage Evaluation Survey.
 As of Census 2010, a multi-modal data collection data method was used as follows:
 Two types of census questionnaires were used. The first questionnaire for persons living in private living quarters, whilst the second questionnaire was for persons living in collective living quarters such as college or university hostels, charitable or social welfare institutions, prisons and homeless persons.
 As of Census 2010, it covered all persons including non-citizens who had stayed or intended to stay in Malaysia for more than six months in the year 2010. This includes:
 The following categories were excluded from the census count on the basis that they were staying in the country for less than six months in the year 2010:
 Urban areas adopted by the previous censuses refer to gazetted local council areas with a specified population threshold. The urban areas in Census 1980 refers to a gazetted area with population of 10,000 persons or more.
 Urban areas in Census 1991 and 2000, were defined as gazetted areas with their adjoining built-up areas which had a combined population of 10,000 or more. Built-up areas were defined as areas contiguous to a gazetted area and had at least 60 per cent of their population (aged 10 and above) engaged in non-agricultural activities as well as having modern toilet facilities in their housing units. The definition of urban areas for Census 2000 also takes into account the special development area namely development area which is not gazetted and can be identified and separated from the gazetted area or built-up area of more than 5 km and a population of at least 10,000 with 60 per cent of their population (aged 10 and above) engaged in non-agricultural activities as well as having modern toilet facilities in their housing units.
 Meanwhile, urban areas in Census 2010, were defined as:
 Gazetted areas with their adjoining built-up areas which had a combined population of 10,000 or more. Built-up areas were defined as areas contiguous to a gazetted areas and had at least 60 per cent of their population (aged 15 years and above) engaged in non-agricultural activities. The definition of urban areas also takes into account the special development area namely development area which is not gazetted and can be identified and separated from the gazetted area or built-up area of more than 5 km and a population of at least 10,000 with 60 per cent of their population (aged 15 and above) engaged in non-agricultural activities as well as having modern toilet facilities in their housing units. Urbanisation is a dynamic process and keeps changing with development and growth. Thus, the urban areas for 1980, 1991, 2000 and 2010 Censuses do not necessarily refer to the same areas, as areas fulfilling the above criteria of urban continue to expand and grow.
 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:
 Malay
 Malay
Kadazan-Dusun
Bajau
Murut
 Malay
Iban
Bidayuh
Melanau
 Other Bumiputera
 Non-Bumiputera
Chinese
 Indian
 Others
 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.
 The average annual growth rate was calculated as 
  
    
      
        r
        =
        
          (
          
            
              
                1
                n
              
            
            ln
            ⁡
            
              
                
                  P
                  
                    n
                  
                
                
                  P
                  
                    0
                  
                
              
            
          
          )
        
        ×
        100
        %
        ,
      
    
    {\displaystyle r=\left({\frac {1}{n}}\ln {\frac {P_{n}}{P_{0}}}\right)\times 100\%,}
  
 where 
  
    
      
        r
      
    
    {\displaystyle r}
  
 is the average annual population growth rate, 
  
    
      
        n
      
    
    {\displaystyle n}
  
 is the exact number of years between 
  
    
      
        
          P
          
            0
          
        
      
    
    {\displaystyle P_{0}}
  
 is the population tally in the initial and 
  
    
      
        
          P
          
            n
          
        
      
    
    {\displaystyle P_{n}}
  
 in the 
  
    
      
        n
      
    
    {\displaystyle n}
  
th year.
 The density of persons per square kilometre is the ratio of the population of a given geographic area to the number of square kilometres in the same area.
 The median age is the age that divides the distribution of the population into two, such that half the population is below the age and half is above it.
 Dependency ratio refers to the ratio of the number of persons below the age of 15 years and the number of persons aged 65 years and over to the number of persons aged 15–64 years; multiplied by 100.
 The sex ratio is the number of males per 100 females.
 The mean age at first marriage refers to the singulate mean age at marriage which is an indicate measure of the mean age at first marriage among those who would ever marry. It is derived from the proportions never married at different age groups.
 Refers to the identification or relationship of an individual to a system of beliefs and the practice of these beliefs. For the purpose of tabulation and analysis, the classification for religion is as follows:
 After the year 2000, there were several new areas created or boundary changes that were gazetted by the relevant authority for federal territory and administrative districts. The new federal territory created was Putrajaya. Meanwhile, the new administrative districts such as Ledang and Kulaijaya in Johor; Pokok Sena in Kedah; Kampar in Perak; Putatan in Sabah; and Pakan and Selangau in Sarawak.