PETALING JAYA: The country’s live birth rate increased by 13% in the second quarter of 2023, according to the statistics department.
In a statement, Chief Statistician Uzir Mahidin said the country recorded 105,961 live births in Q2 2023 compared with 93,799 live births in Q2 2022.
He said that the country’s population currently stood at 33.4 million people compared with 32.7 million people recorded in Q2 2022.
Malays accounted for the majority of the total births in Q2 2023 with 72,500 (68.4%), followed by other Bumiputeras with 13,694 (12.9%), Chinese with 9,695 (9.1%), Indians with 4,076 (3.8%), and others, including non-citizens, with 5,996 (5.8%).
Uzir said Selangor recorded the most number of live births with 20,477 (19.3%) while Labuan saw the lowest number of live births – 357 (0.3%).
“Mothers aged 30-39 years recorded 53,679 (50.7%) live births, the highest in Q2 2023, followed by mothers aged 20-29 years (42.3%), 40 years and over (5.2%) and less than 20 years (1.8%),” he said.
Uzir also said the country recorded a 0.7% increase in the number of deaths to 50,239 in Q2 2023, up from 49,893 deaths recorded in Q2 2022.
Malays accounted for 52.9% of the total (26,610 deaths), followed by Chinese with 13,149 deaths (26.2%), other Bumiputeras with 5,110 deaths (10.2%), Indians with 4,052 deaths (8.1%) and others, including non-citizens, with 1,318 deaths (2.6%).