page_title: Demographics of Sabah
section_title: Bajau
hierarchical_section_title: Demographics of Sabah / Ethnic groups / Bajau
caption_attribution_description: English: Semporna, Sabah: Bajau women in traditional clothing waiting for the arrival of Head of State. (Photo taken at the opening of Tun Sakaran Museum)
context_page_description: The 2015 Malaysian Census reported the population of Sabah at 3,543,500, being the third most populous state in Malaysia and have the highest non-citizens population at 870,400. However, as Malaysia is one of the least densely populated countries in Asia, Sabah is particularly sparsely populated with most of the population concentrated in the coastal areas since towns and urban centres have massively expanded. The statistics in 1970 reported the population of Sabah with only 653,600, with both the state and its neighbour of Sarawak has about the same number of foreign nationals. By 1980, the state population saw a sudden increase to over 1,011,000 following the influx of refugees who fleeing a conflict in the neighbouring southern Philippines. At the same time, Sabah economic booms in the primary sector also attracted large legal workers from both Indonesia and the Philippines. This increase to over 1,863,600 in 1991, 2,603,485 in 2000, and by 2010 turned into 3,117,405. Sabah has 900,000 registered migrant workers working in agriculture, plantation, construction, services and domestic workers.
context_section_description: The second largest indigenous group is the Bajau. The Bajaus in Sabah is divided into two main groups, the West Coast and East Coast. The West Coast Bajau generally lived in land and known for their traditional horse culture. They mostly settled the area from Kota Belud, Kota Kinabalu, Tuaran and Papar. While the East Coast Bajau are mostly spending their lives in the sea with their annual "regatta lepa" festival and settled around the area of Semporna, Lahad Datu and Kunak.
  Once known as seafarers, the West Coast Bajau have start to learning farming and cattle rearing since their migration from the Philippine archipelago a long time ago. Their skills in horsemanship are well known locally and they will perform the culture on their festive occasions with the riders will be dressed in colourful traditional costumes. The East Coast Bajau on the other side are still living in traditional ways, with fishing became the main source of income. Most of them lived in stilt water villages and some spending most of their lives in their boat. The East Coast Bajau are also known as good divers of which they can spend more than five minutes in the waters without using oxygen tank.
caption: East Coast Bajau girls with their traditional dress.
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