Malaysia’s falling birth rates, ageing population to strain the economy

[KUALA LUMPUR] Young Malaysians are having fewer children than the generations before them. Economists warn that if this trend plays out concurrently with rising life expectancy, the country’s healthcare and pension systems, and the economy on the whole, will come under strain.

Malaysia’s fertility rate – the average number of births per woman – plummeted from 4.9 in 1970 to just 1.6 in 2023, a span of just over 50 years. The 1.6 figure, on a par with that of the United States, is a record low in Malaysia, though it is still higher than that in many other Asian countries. The fertility rate in China is 1.1; in South Korea, it is 0.7 – the world’s lowest.

Low birthrates are not unique to Malaysia. Many of its South-east Asian peers are also grappling with such a dilemma: the figure is 0.97 in Singapore, and 1.1 in Thailand.