Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Indonesia’s neighboring country, Malaysia, will experience a decline in its total fertility rate in 2022. This decline is the lowest in the last 50 years.
Launching from Malay Mail, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) stated that in 2022, the fertility rate for Malaysian women aged 15 to 49 years will be at 1.6 children per person. This figure is lower compared to 2021 which reached 1.7 children per woman.
The total fertility rate of a population is the average number of children a woman will give birth to during their lifetime.
DOSM chairman Datuk Seri Mohd Uzin Mahidin said the statistics marked the lowest fertility rate in Malaysia in five decades. In 1970, the fertility rate for Malaysian women even reached 4.9 children per woman.
“From 1970 to 2012, the national total fertility rate was still above 2.1 children. This shows that the average number of children born per woman is sufficient to replace a married couple,” said Mohd Uzin, quoted on Wednesday (18/10 /2023).
“However, the total fertility rate has fallen below the level since 2013. This signals a potential demographic crisis that could result in problems, such as population decline, population aging, and socio-economic impacts,” continued Mohd Uzin.
In the same report, DOSM also revealed a downward trend in total fertility rates across all major ethnic groups in Malaysia from 2011 to 2022.
As a result, the highest Total Fertility Rate (TFR) was experienced by ethnic Malays, namely 2.1 children per woman. Meanwhile, the lowest TFR was recorded by ethnic Chinese with 0.8 children per woman.
“At the state level, only Terengganu (2.9 children), Kelantan (2.7 children) and Pahang (2.1 children) have a total fertility rate above the replacement level,” said Mohd Uzin.
According to Mohd Uzin, this downward trend in fertility is not surprising for the world community. This is because a number of developed countries, such as the United States (US), Australia, England, Japan and South Korea, have also experienced a decline in fertility rates.
Meanwhile in Southeast Asia (ASEAN), countries that recorded a decline in fertility rates were Vietnam, Brunei Darussalam, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia.
“In contrast, the Philippines, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia and Malaysia have total fertility rates above replacement level,” said Mohd Uzin.
Mohd Uzin said, in 2022 the number of live births will decrease by 3.8 percent compared to 2021, namely ‘only’ reaching 423,124. In detail, throughout 2022 there will be 218,345 births of male babies and 204,779 female babies.
What are the conditions in Indonesia?
The trend of decreasing birth rates occurs globally, including in Indonesia. The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) projects that the total fertility rate in the country will continue to decline until 2045 at 1.97 children per woman.
This means that it will be increasingly rare for Indonesian women to have more than one child.
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