KUALA LUMPUR,Malaysia - Malaysia's population grew to 27.5 million in 2010 from 22.2 million a decade ago, according to the latest decennial census released by the Statistics Department on Thursday.

71 percent of the population resides in urban areas and capital city Kuala Lumpur alone has the largest population of 1.58 million.

The report said ethnic Chinese women in the country were the longest living with an average life expectancy of 79.8 years while men lived on average 71.9 years and women in general, 77 years.

Minister in charge of economic planning unit Nor Mohamed Yakcop said birth rate dropped to 2.2 percent in 2010 from three percent in 2000, attributing it to the growing presence of women in the workforce and the use of contraception.

About five percent of the population was 65 and above.

Nor Mohamed said Malaysia is not aging and would only reach that stage in 2025.

Of the 27.5 million population, ethnic Malays made up 50.1 percent, followed by ethnic Chinese at 22.5 percent, natives at 11. 8 percent and ethnic Indians at 6.7 percent.

The median age at first marriage for women is 26 and the figure is expected to rise with more women participating in workforce, Nor Mohamed said.