KUALA LUMPUR, May 11 – Malaysia recorded an 8.9 per cent increase in the number of live births during the first quarter of 2023, according to data released by the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) today.
The number of live births rose from 102,466 in the same period last year to 111,604 this year. Males outnumbered females, with 57,654 male births compared to 53,950 female births.
Selangor recorded the highest number of live births with 21,148 (18.9 per cent), while Wilayah Persekutuan Labuan recorded the lowest live births with 361 (0.3 per cent).
The majority of mothers were between 30-39 years of age, accounting for 57,491 births (51.5 per cent), followed by mothers between 20-29 years of age with 46,376 births (41.6 per cent), 40 years and over with 5,967 births (5.3 per cent), and less than 20 years of age with 1,770 births (1.6 per cent).
During the same period, 47,767 deaths were recorded in Malaysia, representing a decrease of 11.7 per cent from 54,123 deaths reported in the first quarter of 2022. The number of male deaths was 27,357 while female deaths were 20,410. Selangor recorded the highest number of deaths at 7,548 (15.8 per cent), while Wilayah Persekutuan Putrajaya had the lowest with 66 deaths (0.1 per cent).
Deaths among individuals aged 60 and above accounted for the highest number of deaths at 33,687 (70.5 per cent), followed by those between 41-59 years of age (19.9 per cent), 15-40 (7.1 per cent), and 0-14 (2.5 per cent).
Although there was a decline in deaths across most age groups, the 0-14 age category reported a slight increase in deaths, with 1,191 deaths recorded in the first quarter of 2023 compared to 1,079 deaths in the corresponding quarter last year. At the time of writing, data on the causes of deaths for the latest period has not yet been released.
Malaysia’s population in the first quarter of 2023 was estimated at 33.2 million, an increase of 1.6 per cent from the same period in 2022, with 91.7 per cent citizens and 8.3 per cent non-citizens. Males and females both saw an increase in population, with males rising from 17.1 million to 17.5 million, and females rising from 15.5 million to 15.7 million.
The overall sex ratio of the population was 111 males per 100 females, while the sex ratio for citizens was 104 males per 100 females. Selangor remained the state with the highest population, with 21.7 per cent, followed by Johor (12.3 per cent) and Sabah (10.4 per cent).
