The population of Sarawak

Abstract

Sarawak is a multi-ethnic society in which six major communities/ each with distinctive cultural, social and economic conditions, could be expected to have different demographic behaviours, levels and changes in mortality and fertility. This thesis measures the demographic differentials, dynamics of growth and change of population among the six ethnic communities, and identifies the economic, social and cultural factors influencing these trends and differentials. The analysis shows substantial differences in mortality and fertility among the six ethnic communities; differentials closely linked to differences in life styles, living conditions, food supplies and levels of nutrition, and accessibility to education and health services. Demographic changes have occurred in all the communities over the last two decades. Mortality and fertility levels declined. The decline in the death rate started perhaps as early as the late 1940s, preceding the decline in birth rate in the 1960s. The decline in the crude death rate was facilitated by a faster decline in infant and childhood mortality. The rate of decline was faster among the Land Dayak, Malays and Chinese than other communities. The decline in the birth rate among most of the communities is the result of interacting changes in age-sex structure, marital structure and, most importantly, marital fertility. The decline has been greater among the Chinese, Land Dayak and Malays. Contributing significantly to changes in mortality and fertility are the rise of education and literacy, the expansion of health services, the cultivation of perennial crops, the conversion of many of the pagan people to Christianity, concomitant with accelerated social and economic development beginning in the 1950s. These background variables influence demographic behaviour through a number of intermediate variables, and the thesis examines the probable causal linkages between background and intermediate variables and between the intermediate variables and demographic levels, trends and differentials. Evidence indicates that variations in the supporting role played by the background variables accounted for the differentials in mortality and fertility in the various communities. Judging from the demographic behaviour of the communities, growth of Sarawak's population during the next two decades will remain substantial because the numerically large cohort of women born in the 1960s will be reaching their prime reproductive age and most of them will marry and bear children. This is particularly the case for the Land Dayak and Other Indigenous women, whose patterns of early marriage and procreation lead to a short mean generation length, thus accelerating the growth of the population. Mortality will continue to decline but at a slower pace after reaching relatively low levels in the 1990s. The decline in fertility will also be slow, especially if improved social and economic conditions of the rural population raise the level of fertility initially, counterbalancing the faster urban fertility decline. Further intensive research on particular factors causing fertility and mortality decline is needed in order to better understand these demographic patterns.