The national fertility rate in 2016 is the lowest ever recorded since the formation of Malaysia in 1963, Chief Statistician Mohd Uzir Mahidin revealed.

He said according to the Vital Statistics Malaysia 2017 report, the fertility rate per woman aged 15 to 49 in 2016 was 1.9 babies, a decrease from 2.0 babies in 2015.

“The total fertility rate in Malaysia has been below the replacement level of 2.1 babies, which is the average number of babies born per woman throughout her reproductive life, has been insufficient to replace herself and her partner,” he said in a statement today.

However, he said women aged 30 to 34 years recorded the highest fertility rate in 2016 with 120 births per 1,000 women in the same age group.

On live births, he said the number recorded in 2016 was 508,203 babies, a decrease of 2.5 percent from 521,136 recorded in 2015.

Male babies born in 2016 were 262,755 (51.7 percent), which is 17,307 more than female babies (245,488 or 48.3 percent).

Meanwhile, he said the mean age of mothers at the time of their first live births had increased from 27.6 years in 2015 to 27.7 years in 2016.

Mohd Uzir also said the number of deaths recorded in Malaysia in 2016 was 162,201, an increase of 4.1 percent compared to 155,786 in 2015.

“The crude death rate had increased from 5.0 (2015) to 5.1 (2016) per 1,000 population,” he said.

The report also revealed that ischaemic heart disease (heart-related disease) was the main cause of death in Malaysia in 2015 and 2016, recording 13.7 percent and 13.2 percent respectively.

The second cause of death in 2016 was pneumonia 12.5 percent, followed by cerebrovascular disease (6.9 percent) and cancer of the trachea, bronchus and lungs (2.2 percent).

Meanwhile, the names Muhammad Harraz Naufal for boys and Ainul Mardiah for girls were the most popular for Bumiputera in 2016.

For the Chinese, the names Yu and Xin were the most popular names for boys and girls, while Sharvin and Harshini were the most popular names among the Indian community.

- Bernama