ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to address the second research objective, which is to establish the general pattern of demographic structural change in Peninsular Malaysia and its constituent regions and to examine the extent to which government policy (restructuring population, society and decreasing poverty) has influenced the pattern of regional inequalities in Peninsular Malaysia. It discusses the demographic structural change and distribution in Peninsular Malaysia, including population growth and concentration, age structure and dependency and how migration has responded to government policy to redistribute the population. The chapter examines the status and change in poverty and society that have occurred in the states and regions in Peninsular Malaysia since 1970. In Kedah the number of females is higher than the males at a ratio 1:1.3 (100 males for every 130 females). The male migration in fact caused the inequality. This inequality in gender distribution is linked to migration especially by males to more developed states.
