Parenthood in the backseat over time, resources

PETALING JAYA: Malaysian women are refraining from having children even as the country’s fertility rate fell to the lowest in four decades with 1.7 babies for those within the reproductive age.

Their decision is due to concerns of not being able to fully commit towards caring for a child and the financial responsibility that comes along with it.

There are also those who choose not to have children so that they can channel their time and resources towards helping and caring for those around them.

Freelancer Susan Tam, 44, said the worry of not being able to commit towards having a child led both her and her husband deciding to be child-free.

“Apart from work commitments, the financial responsibility of having a child is not something to be taken lightly. We did have these conversations previously and after some time, we realised that having a child was just not for us,” she said.

They also decided to be child-free due to their empathetic personalities.

“This can lead us to worrying a lot on our own and what more if we had children,” she said, adding that they instead opted to shoulder “parental” responsibility by adopting cats and dogs.

Editor Deborah Loh said the decision to be child-free was agreed on by both her husband and herself. “We do not have anything against children and in fact, we enjoy playing with the young ones.

“But having one of our own was something not desired. Our parents and in-laws were also understanding of this,” said Loh, 47.

The option not to have children was discussed before her marriage and during the early years of being a married couple, she said, adding that their decision remained the same.

Loh said they also used their free time to give back and help others.

“This is channelled towards caring for our ageing parents, helping our church community while also caring for the young ones of close friends,” she said.

Cosmetic entrepreneur Karmun Wong, 32, said deciding to be child-free was not something she and her husband took lightly.

“We were initially on the fence but when the pandemic came around, it pushed us towards being strictly child-free.

“With a rising awareness towards global environmental and societal issues, the current economy is also not family friendly,” she said, adding that it was expensive to even survive on their own.

Wong explained that they had done the calculations.

Besides the cost of their lifestyles in addition to savings for themselves and their parents’ retirement, they found having a child was just not feasible.

A finance manager, who wanted to remain anonymous, said that both she and her husband’s heavy work commitments led to them not wanting to have children.

“We had talked about having a baby. But then we realised that our career goals were a bigger priority.

“It is also unfair to the child (if we had one), since we are unable to devote a significant amount of time and resources to enhance the youngster’s journey in growing up,” she said.

The rising cost of living, she said, was another deterrent.

“It would not be the best financial decision to bring another human into the world,” she said.

She, however, acknowledged that she would reconsider her decision if the financial situation improved.

According to the Population and Housing Census of Malaysia 2020 (MyCensus 2020) Report which was made public in February, the percentage of people in the 0-14 age bracket had dropped from 27.6% in 2010 to 24% in 2020.

There were 470,195 live births in 2020 which was the country’s lowest in over a decade.

With the country’s fertility rate below the replacement level of 2.1 babies since 2013, Malaysia is projected to become an ageing nation by 2030, which is less than eight years away.