PETALING JAYA: When it is impossible to get out of the house, a roll between the sheets would have been the next best thing.
However, a post-lockdown baby boom is unlikely.
With higher priority now being given to education and career opportunities, and easier access to contraceptives, a “baby bust” may actually be on the horizon.
Recently released data from the Department of Statistics shows that the birth rate has dropped from 4.9 babies per woman in the 1970s to just 1.8 in 2019.
If the downward trend continues, Malaysia will very soon be an ageing society and this will put the economy under a lot of strain, given the dwindling manpower to drive it.
As former Treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Sheriff Kassim pointed out, as the population ages, the younger generation will have to bear an increasingly heavier burden of supporting the retirees.
Those aged 65 and above accounted for 7% of the population in 2020, and this is likely to increase to 14% by 2045, making Malaysia an aged nation.
“It is imperative that a social security net be created to support the aged,” Sheriff added.
If the ageing trend continues, the sale of adult diapers could soon outstrip that of baby diapers, as is already happening in Japan, according to gynaecologist and fertility specialist Dr Hoo Mei Lin.
She said that equal access to education and career opportunities for girls, and easy availability of contraceptives now enable women to decide when to stop having children.
It makes sense to set a limit. “Couples now want fewer children so individual offspring will have more of the luxuries the parents can afford,” Hoo pointed out.
There are other factors. “As we move to the cities to find work, childcare becomes more expensive, and a reliable nursery may be difficult to find,” she told theSun.
With women pursuing their careers, many also delay child-bearing, and that inevitably leads to fewer children.
Health is another issue. “An increase in the number of couples seeking fertility services indicates that there has been a rise in the prevalence of infertility or, higher awareness about fertility treatments available,” Hoo said.
However, she acknowledged that this trend has been observed only at her own practice and may not necessarily reflect the national trend.
Sociologist Dr Nor Azlili Hassan said that with rapid industrialisation, more women have joined the workforce.
“As a result, many delay starting a family, thus shortening their reproductive years,” she told theSun.
She said that even in rural areas, family planning undertaken by the National Population and Family Development Board, Health
Ministry and family planning associations have made contraceptives more readily available, thereby decreasing the birth rate further.
“With higher education, women also tend to delay marriage,” she added.
However, a low birth rate is not all bad. It brings economic benefits and improved standard of living.
On the other hand, there is a tipping point. A prolonged reduction in the birth rate will eventually have a negative impact on the country.
Nor Azlili said the government should take immediate steps to arrest the decline by providing incentives such as fertility insurance and free vacations for newly married couples.
She said the government must also provide adequate publicly funded reproductive health and social care to achieve the required birth rate so that the country will eventually have a younger population to contribute to national and global progress.
“Women are now contributing more to the total workforce and social welfare agenda than ever before and they deserve to get reproductive benefits as well,” she said.
Other benefits the government should also consider are higher income tax relief, more favourable bank loans, more health clinics as well as education.
“Lastly, it is necessary to have a national and international initiative for the prevention of infertility and protection of fertility,” Nor Azlili added.
