Boys outnumber girls as local birth rate declines
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin (pic) said the number of live births took a dive of 7.1% to 93,435 births in the second quarter of 2025, compared to 100,558 births during the same period last year.
Male babies outnumbered female babies with 48,444 births as compared to 44,991 births, he said, as DOSM released statistics yesterday on live births, deaths and population in the second quarter of 2025.
'In terms of states, Selangor recorded the highest live births with 17,605 births (18.8%), while Wilayah Persekutuan Labuan recorded the lowest with 274 births (0.3%).
'Mothers aged 30 to 39 recorded the highest live births with 48,503 births (51.9%), followed by mothers aged 20-29 years (40.8%), 40 years and over (5.6%) and less than 20 years (1.6%), he said in a statement.
In terms of ethnicity, Malays contributed 68.7% (64,187 births) of the total live births, while the share of Chinese and Indians decreased to 8.1% and 3.8%, respectively.
For other bumiputra groups in Sabah, Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia, there was a slight increase of 12.9% compared to 12.6% during the same period.
Although total deaths recorded a decline of 3% in the second quarter with 48,408 deaths compared to 49,906 deaths in the same period last year, more men were dying, with a ratio of 133 males per 100 females, Mohd Uzir said.
'The number of deaths recorded for males were 27,607 and 20,801 deaths for females. Selangor recorded the highest number of deaths with 7,820 deaths (16.2%), while Labuan recorded the lowest with 68 deaths (0.1%).
'Those aged 60 years and above had the highest number of deaths with 34,165 deaths (70.6%), followed by the 41 to 59 age group (20.1%), 15-40 (7.3%) and 0-14 (2.0%),' he said.
Mohd Uzir added that despite the decrease in the number of live births in the second quarter, Malaysia's total population was estimated at 34.2 million, compared to 34.1 million in the same period last year, with a slower growth of 0.5% compared to 1.9%.
He said that in order to achieve the 1.1% population growth outlined in the 13th Malaysia Plan, Malaysia must increase its population by approximately 400,000 annually.
'The male population increased to 18 million from 17.9 million a year ago, while the female population increased to 16.3 million from 16.2 million.
'The older population (65 and over) increased from 7.6% to 8.0% in the second quarter of 2025, while the younger population (0-14) recorded a decrease from 22.2% to 21.6%,' he added.
He said birth rates and total fertility rates have been declining globally in recent years, posing major challenges to demographic structure, economic growth and social balance at the global and national levels.
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