PETALING JAYA: Fewer babies were born in the first quarter of this year than last year.
In the first three months of this year, there were only 93,500 births, compared to 105,613 births in the first quarter of 2024.
According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM), in its Demographic Statistics Malaysia, First Quarter 2025 report, live births declined by 11.5%, marking the lowest level ever recorded.
The decline in births reflects falling fertility rates in the country.
According to the DOSM report, male babies outnumbered female babies, with 48,124 births compared to 45,376 births.
The sex ratio of live births was 106 males to every 100 females.
Selangor had the highest live births at 18,254 (19.5%), while Labuan recorded the lowest at 278 (0.3%).
Most mothers who gave birth in the first quarter of this year were in the 30-39 age group, representing 49,816 (53.3%) of births recorded.
The second biggest group of mothers were aged 20-29 years (39.3%), followed by 40 years and over (6.0%) and less than 20 years (1.4%).
Three births were recorded to mothers aged 55 years and above.
Regarding ethnicity, Malays accounted for 68.8% (64,326 live births) of the total live births.
Live births for Other Bumiputra increased to 12.6% compared to 12.3% in the first quarter of 2024.
Other Bumiputra consist of Bumiputra Sabah, Bumiputra Sarawak and other Bumiputra in Peninsular Malaysia.
The live birth rates for Chinese and Indians decreased to 8.6% and 3.8% compared to 9.6% and 4.2% in the first quarter of 2024, respectively.
