However, Yeah Kim Leng of Sunway University said the prospects of hitting the target – set by then prime minister Mahathir in the Fifth Malaysia Plan – are slim, despite last year’s trend-bucking population increase of 2.1%.
Last week, women, family and community development minister Nancy Shukri said Malaysia’s total fertility rate (TFR) had dropped from 2.1 children in 2010 to 1.6 in 2022, the New Straits Times reported.
The replacement TFR level – the childbirth rate that would allow a population to replace its numbers exactly from one generation to the next – stands at approximately 2.1.
“It is a stylised fact of development that as a nation modernises and achieves rising income and standard of living, birth rates tend to decline and family sizes tend to be smaller.
“Rapid urbanisation and higher living costs associated with urban living, including more expensive education, healthcare and housing also deter young couples from having more children,” Yeah told FMT.
However, he said the nation should not be too obsessed with the declining availability of labour owing to the shrinking birth rate. Instead, he said the country should focus on improving the quality, skills and capabilities of its human capital.
“Numerous countries with small and medium-sized populations have achieved developed-nation status with high standards and quality of life.
“We should therefore shift the focus from family size to increasing access to and raising the quality of nutrition, healthcare, education and living conditions for all children,” he said.
Last Tuesday, Nancy told the Dewan Rakyat that couples should retain the right to decide whether they should have children, and how many.
She was responding to concerns raised by religious affairs minister Na’im Mokhtar about a “childfree” trend during a parliamentary debate over a report by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia.
Nancy said economic factors, fertility issues and lifestyle choices, which influence decisions regarding the age of marriage and the number of children, have contributed to the TFR decline.
Meanwhile, Dr Choong Sim Poey of the Reproductive Rights Advocacy Alliance Malaysia said the wide availability since the 1950s of modern contraceptives has contributed to falling birth rates globally.
He said women and families can now make decisions about their preferred family size, unlike in the past.
“This change in people’s mindset about the ideal family size is very difficult to reverse.
“Strategies such as improving maternity care and reducing the cost of childcare and education may help encourage increasing birth rates,” he said.
Choong said birth rates cannot be improved solely through financial incentives. Instead, he said, a comprehensive long-term review of healthcare and educational services is essential to support the objective.
“(This review should not be) just to increase the numbers but the quality of our next generation,” he said.