SHAH ALAM: Malaysia’s aging population is expected to bring new challenges in areas such as health, labour force and the economy.
Deputy Health Minister Dr Lee Boon Chye said while birth rates may be down, the government’s concern now was to prepare for an aged population.
He said by 2030, Malaysia was projected to have an aged population as more than 15 per cent of the population would be more than 65 years old.
He said this to the New Straits Times here today after opening the first MSU International Conference on Interprofessional Education and International Conference on Reproductive Health and Infections.
Dr Lee attributed the declining birth rate to women’s empowerment.
“As a country advances and the women population is empowered, there will be less pregnancies, hence the lower birth rate. This is normal.
“As women become more educated, they take charge of their own lives. They decide what’s best for them and that’s the trend worldwide,” he said..
According to figures released by the Statistics Department, the second quarter of 2019 saw births decreasing by 1.7 per cent compared to 2018. There were 123,102 live births compared 125,253 in the second quarter of last year.
Meanwhile for the second quarter, 42,027 deaths were recorded compared to 41,077 last year, an increase of 2.3 per cent.
The nation’s population for the second quarter stands at 32.58 million, an increase of 0.6 per cent from the 32.38 million for the same period last year.
For the 2019 figures, 29.38 million were Malaysian citizens while 3.2 million were non-citizens. Last year’s figures for the same period was 29.06 million and 3.32 million respectively.
The current sex ratio is 107 males per 100 females.
Dr Lee said developed countries usually saw declining birth rates and that as Malaysia was a developing country it, too, was seeing lower birth rates.
“But we are not too worried about it as our population is still growing. People are living longer now with lower mortality rate.”
In terms of lifespan, a female born in 2018 could live 77.6 years, while a male could live until 72.7 years.
Dr Lee said Perak was already an aged state with more than 15 per cent of its population above 65 years old.
An ageing population is defined as having seven per cent of the population aged 65 years and above. An aged population and super-aged population are classified when they make up 14 per cent and 20 per cent of the population respectively.
Dr Lee said the government was now focusing more on care facilities for the aged and had already passed the Aged Healthcare Act.
“We are working on a framework for the facilities now. We know there are many private initiatives and the ministry is also looking at it. There is a special group looking at this for the 12th Malaysia Plan.”
He said aging population was an issue that the ministry must be prepared to tackle as the health requirements differed with more care and training needed.
Dr Lee said that apart from the medical aspects, an aging population also had an economic part to it especially relating to the labour force needed to support the retired population.