Malaysia’s Department of Statistics shares a report documenting the lowest fertility rate in four decades.
In the Vital Statistics, Malaysia, 2021 report, the country’s Total Fertility Rate (TFR) of women within reproductive age met a decline to 1.7 babies in the year 2020, from 1.8 in 2019.
The Vital Statistics, Malaysia 2021 report documents statistics of the birth and death rates by demographic characteristics at national, state and administrative districts in 2020.
Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin verified in response to the report that 2020’s TFR is indeed the lowest thus far in the last forty years. In the year 1970, the TFR was as much as 4.9 children per woman.
A Continuous Downward Trend
The Principles and Recommendations for A Vital Statistics (Revision 3) from the United Nations Statistics Division (2014) manual states a woman needs to birth an average of 2.1 babies, which is the ideal replacement level of babies to bear a daughter.
There is paramount importance to the birth of a daughter and that is to ensure a stable population from one generation to another.
Malaysia remained well above the replacement level of 2.1 before the year 2012. This means the average number of babies born per woman over the course of her reproductive life was sufficient to replace the woman and her partner.
However, the TRF started to decline consistently following the year 2013 to this date. Three states recorded TFR’s above replacement levels and they are Terengganu (2.9 babies), Putrajaya (2.8 babies), and Kelantan (2.7 babies).
Penang recorded the country’s lowest birth rate out of all states at 11.1. Malaysia also saw fewer deaths in 2020 compared with the previous year.
Mohd Uzir also verified that the declining trend of fertility rates shows the same pattern in other developed countries. To exemplify are countries such as Australia (1.7 babies), the United Kingdom (1.7 babies), the United States (1.7 babies). Moreover, there are also New Zealand (1.6 babies), Japan (1.4 babies), and South Korea (0.9 babies).
Influences on the Downward Trend
On the other hand, there is also the notion of live births displaying a 3.6% decline in 2020, compared to 2019. The numbers dropped from 483, 957 live births to 470, 195 respectively. There were more newborn males (243,617) rather than females (226,578).
Live births are births with signs of life during delivery despite how short of a period. The Crude Birth Rate (CBR) is the number of live births per thousand population.
Mohd Uzir explained the decline in the number of live births directly contributes to the decline in the Crude Birth Rate (CBR). It went from 15.0 births in 2019 to 14.4 per thousand population in 2020.
These decline in ratios play a vital influence in the population structure of the country.
Muhd Uzir predicts Malaysia may as just as well grow into an aging nation. This is because of the downward tread of birth and death rates which only seems to continue on. The elderly population (those above the age of 60), may see an increase of 15.3% by the year 2030.
Furthermore, the average age of a mother at first live birth increased from 0.1 years at 27.9 years in 2019, to 28.0 years in 2020.
The factors leading up to this phenomenon include women’s increasing participation in the workforce and higher education.
Additionally, the 21st century is one that is highly modernised and urbanised. Lifestyle changes, one’s economic status and even the practice of family planning are top contributing factors.
Ultimately, perhaps the downward trend may not necessarily be a cause of concern just yet. However, what’s for sure is a definite change in the population’s demographic.
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