Why young Malaysians are reluctant to embrace parenthood

IN 2024, Malaysia recorded a mere 414,918 live births, a staggering 9% plunge from the previous year, and the lowest figure since 1980.

More alarmingly, our total fertility rate (TFR) has cratered to 1.6, far below the 2.1 replacement level required to sustain population growth. This is a ticking demographic time bomb.

A shrinking nursery today signals a crippled workforce, an overwhelmed healthcare system and a collapsing pension structure tomorrow.

But instead of confronting this impending crisis, the public debate lazily frames the issue as a cultural defect. We constantly accuse young Malaysians of being too career-obsessed, unwilling to marry or reluctant to embrace parenthood.

The provocative, unspoken truth is that young adults are simply making ruthlessly rational decisions in response to economic conditions. How can we expect a generation to multiply when they are suffocated by housing prices that vastly outpace their incomes; when quality childcare is exorbitantly expensive and uneven; and when stable employment is increasingly scarce for younger workers?

Having children is no longer a mere lifestyle choice now; it is a brutal financial calculation.

Look at South Korea, Japan and Singapore. Their parenthood incentives to combat low birth rate prove that people cannot simply be bribed into having children.

Malaysia must wake up before this demographic winter becomes entrenched. We must stop relying on hollow slogans promoting larger families.

We must demand radical interventions: affordable childcare must be institutionalised as critical economic infrastructure. Housing policies must aggressively prioritise struggling young families over speculative demand.

Flexible work arrangements and robust parental protections must become the absolute standard. We must also confront our immigration policy to address inevitable labour shortages.

Our shrinking cradle is not just a demographic trend; it is a glaring warning signal about the unaffordability and insecurity of modern Malaysian life.

If policymakers continue to dismiss this issue as a private family matter, they are sleepwalking us straight into a catastrophic economic crisis a generation from now.

AHMAD NIZAM CHE KASIM

Faculty of Business and Communication

Universiti Malaysia Perlis