Malaysia's fertility rate is declining as women postpone marriage and having children, and the drop will continue as the country becomes more and more developed, a deputy minister said.

Women, family and community development deputy minister G Palanivel said research showed the fertility rate had dropped from 3.4 percent in 1994 to 2.8 percent in 2004, Bernama news agency reported.

"Considering the contraceptive prevalence rate in Malaysia has plateaued at around 50 percent since the last two decades, we are at a crossroads in view of the declining total fertility rate," he said yesterday.

The official figures were presented after a survey by the National Population and Family Development Board in 2004.

Malaysia's population policy envisages a decrease in the fertility rate of 0.1 percentage points every five years, slower than the rate shown over the 1994-2004 period.

Late marriages to blame

Palanivel said low fertility would bring about changes in the country's demographic structure, including a gradual ageing of the population.

The population board said in January that marriages later in life among better educated women were partially to blame for the drop in the fertility rate, Bernama reported.

It said its 2004 survey showed the number of children being born varied widely according to educational level. Women with no formal education had almost twice as many children as those with tertiary education.

Malaysia's population is currently estimated to be almost 27 million. It has targeted a population size of 70 million by the year 2100.