Basically, Pulau Ketam are two villagers in this island. They are Pulau Ketam village, and Sungai Lima village, separated by forest. No roads are available to link each and others. The Main transportations is boat. The population in Pulau Ketam village reached its peak of about 20 thousands in 1980’s. The villagers were consisted of Teochew, Hokkien and some Hainan . The population in Sungai Lima was nearly 1.5 thousand, majority is Hokkien.

In Recent years, a lot of villagers have moved to the mainland, especially teenagers after finishing form 5. Most of them work or own some business in the Klang Valley. Some of them further their tertiary education. They only come back to island during weekends or in festive seasons. Most of them bought houses and cars in the mainland. Besides that, you can find a lot of villagers from Pulau Ketam at Endao and Mersing, Johor. Sometimes we called these new settlements as "Mini Pulau Ketam".

To date, population of Pulau Ketam is around 6 to 7 thousands. Majority are Chinese. The Malays form mainland mostly work as policemen, nurses and secondary schools teachers. The numbers to be around 50 persons.

If you are visit to Pulau Ketam, you can speak Mandarin or dialect such as Teochew and Hokkien mostly of people will know and understanding this dialect and languages. some of shop keepers can speaking English as well.