PUTRAJAYA – The total fertility rate (TFR) of women of reproductive age in Malaysia declined to 1.7 last year from 1.8 in 2019, according to the Vital Statistics Malaysia 2021 report released today.
“The 2020 fertility rate is the lowest in four decades, with 4.9 children per woman in 1970. The country’s fertility rate stands below the replacement level of 2.1 babies since 2013,” said Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin in a statement in response to the report.
The report contains birth and death statistics by demographic characteristics at the national, state and administrative levels.
Based on the Principles and Recommendations for Vital Statistics (Revision 3) of the United Nations Statistics Division 2014 manual, the replacement level of 2.1 babies is the “average number of children a woman would need to give birth to by bearing a daughter who survives to childbearing age”.
At the state level, said Uzir, all states recorded a TFR below the replacement level except Terengganu (2.9), Putrajaya (2.8) and Kelantan (2.7).
He said the declining rate in Malaysia is in tandem with developed countries like Australia (1.7), the United Kingdom (1.7), the United States (1.7), New Zealand (1.6), Japan (1.4) and South Korea (0.9).
He said the number of live births last year was 470,195, a 3.6% slide from the 487,957 recorded in 2019.
“It is the lowest figure in over a decade. There were more males newborns than female newborns, at 243,617 and 226,578, respectively.”
This decline contributed to a drop in the crude birth rate (CBR) from 15.0 per 1,000 population in 2019 to 14.4 last year.
“This trend is contributed by the increase in women’s education level and participation in the labour force, among others.”
The average age of a mother at her first live birth rose by 0.1 year from 27.9 years in 2019 to 28.0 last year, he said.
Terengganu recorded the highest rate at 21.6 births per 1,000 population in 2020, while Penang recorded the lowest at 11.1.
The highest CBR last year was seen in Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, with 26.9 births per 1,000 population, while Kinabatangan, Sabah, registered the lowest at 3.7.
Uzir said the number of deaths recorded in the country in 2020 stood at 166,507, a decrease of 4.2% from the 173,746 logged the year prior.
The crude death rate (CDR) continued to decrease from 5.3 per 1,000 population in 2019 to 5.1 last year.
Uzir said based on Malaysia’s CBR and CDR, an average of 14.4 people were born and 5.1 people died per 1,000 population in 2020, with a ratio of 2.8 births to one death.
Looking at the last 10 years, he said, for every 1,000 population, on average, 17.2 people were born and 4.6 people died, with a ratio of 3.7 births to one death. – Bernama, October 14, 2021
