No baby boom in Malaysia this year despite MCO, says Chief Statistician

Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin. - Filepic/The Star

PETALING JAYA: The country did not experience a baby boom this year despite the implementation of the movement control order (MCO) as a much lower number of babies were born in the first quarter of 2021, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia.

Based on the demographic data released today (May 27), there was a significant 10.8% drop or 102,969 decrease in babies born in the first quarter of 2021.

Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin, in a statement on Thursday (May 27), said there was no baby boom in the first quarter of 2021 as anticipated following the MCO due to Covid-19 pandemic.

"In the first quarter 2021, male babies outnumbered female babies with 53,292 births as compared to females (49,677 births).

"Selangor recorded the highest live births with 19,729 births (19.1%) while Labuan recorded the lowest (368 births or 0.4%)," he noted.

The country also recorded a 0.7% increase in the number of deaths in the first quarter of 2021, with a total of 43,545.

Dr Mohd Uzir said the number of deaths recorded for males were higher at 25,076 (58%) while females were at 18,469 (42%).

"During the same period, Selangor recorded the highest number of deaths with 6,909 deaths (15.2%) while Putrajaya recorded the lowest with 65 deaths (0.1%).

Dr Mohd Uzir also said 801 deaths due to Covid-19 were recorded in the first quarter of 2021, an increase of 70.1% compared to 471 deaths in 2020.

"Selangor recorded the highest number of deaths due to Covid-19 with 285 deaths, while Putrajaya recorded the lowest with only two deaths and no deaths were recorded in Perlis," he said.

The Statistics Department revealed that Malaysia’s population in the first quarter of 2021 increased by 0.4% compared to the same period in the previous year, with an estimate of 32.75 million people.

"The total population comprised 29.91 million (91.3%) citizens and 2.84 million (8.7%) non-citizens.

"The composition of population aged 65 years and over (old-age) increased from 2.26 million to 2.37 million during the same period.

"This trend is in line with other developed countries that are heading towards ageing population," it noted.