Concerned over the declining birth rates of the Chinese Malaysian community, Bayan Baru MP Sim Tze Tzin has expressed hope that the auspicious Year of the Dragon might see an increase.
Sim noted that the Chinese Malaysian birth rate has been declining for the past 25 years.
"In 2022, only about 40,000 Chinese babies were born, vis-a-vis 423,124 total babies. That’s less than 10 percent of total live births.
"In 2022, the total fertility rate (TFR) for Malaysia was only 1.6 per woman (the replacement rate is 2.1 per woman). Chinese women's TFR is only 0.8 while Malay women’s is at 2.1 according to the Statistics Department.
"This declining trend is not unique to Malaysia as we are consistent with developed countries and Southeast Asia, so why is the Chinese birth rate so low?" Sim said on Facebook.
According to the National Census 2020, the percentage of bumiputera population increased to 69.4 percent while the Chinese and Indian ethnicities made up less than 30 percent.
The Chinese population stood at 23.2 percent, the Indians at 6.7 percent and others were 0.7 percent. The 2020 census showed a continued trend of declining percentages for the Chinese community.
Sim pointed to several reasons such as individuals staying single, marrying late, choosing to stop at one child, keeping a double income without children or choosing to migrate to other countries.
"I think this has to be discussed by the Chinese community. There is no single solution. It is everyone’s effort.
"There is a saying: it takes a village to raise a kid. To reverse the declining birth rate, everyone must play a role. So let’s start the discussion.
"The silver lining is that the Dragon year has always seen an increase in Chinese babies," he added.
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