Demographics

Kuching has the 4th largest urban area in Malaysia, after Kuala Lumpur-Klang Valley, Ipoh and Johor Bahru. It was also voted as the most healthiest and cleanest city in Malaysia.

The population of 579,900 (2006 census; Kuching City South - 143,500; Kuching City North - 133,600; Padawan- 3rd Mile/ 7th Mile/ 10th Mile - 302,800) in the city is made up of a mixture of Chinese (220,400), Malays (207,000), Ibans (58,100) and some Indians and other ethnic groups. The Dayaks can be further categorized into Ibans, Bidayuhs, Melanaus and many others. The Chinese are made up of Fujianese (Hokkien) in the city areas and Hakka in the suburbs mainly. Other Chinese consist of Foochow (Fuzhou), Teochew, Hainanese, Cantonese, Henghua and others. Another colourful side of Kuching is the number of mixed marriages between the races that crosses not only two cultures into one but children with two, three or more heritages.

The main religions of the peoples of Kuching are Islam, Buddhism and Christianity. Malays practice Islam and all Malays are Muslim by law. Chinese practice either Buddhism or Christianity. Most Dayaks are Christian except the Melanaus who are mainly Muslim.

The majority of people in Kuching are capable of communicating in Bahasa Melayu (Malay Language) as well as English. English ability can however vary greatly from person to person. The dialect of the Malay language spoken in Kuching is known as Bahasa Melayu Sarawak (Sarawakian Malay Language), which has lexical differences with the dialect spoken in Peninsular Malaysia.

On top of Malay and English, a Kuchingite can usually speak his own ethnic dialect/language. An Iban can speak Iban, a Bidayuh speak Bidayuh and the Chinese usually several Chinese dialects, the most common being Hokkien and Mandarin in Kuching but so far, mandrin has been widely spoken language than hokkien since it is well known by all other chinese ethnic. For the Bidayuhs, the dialect of Bidayuh spoken in one kampung/village may vary greatly with another kampung/village. It is also common to find people who can speak more than just Malay, English and their native tongue, not only due to the wide practice of mixed marriages but because of the close rapport amongst the people of Kuching.

A small minority however, speak English as their first language.