INTRODUCTION

The Vital Statistics Malaysia, 2014 contains information on births and deaths across a variety of demographic indicators. Vital statistics is one of the main input used for planning and development of national policies which covers various sectors such as health, education, economy and social. These statistics are also used to derive fundamental demographic measures such as population trends, fertility and mortality as well as measurement for development plans which have been implemented. Data on births and deaths for 2013 are final figures while data for 2014 are preliminary which does not include late registration. 

VITAL STATISTICS

The number of live births recorded in 2014 was 511,865, with an increase of 1.6 per cent compared to  2013 (503,914). The crude birth rate unchanged at 16.7 per 1,000 population for both years. The total fertility rate also unchanged at 2.0 births per woman aged 15–49 years for the same period, which is below the replacement level (2.1).

A total of 145,648 deaths was registered in 2014, showed an increase of 3,446 (2.4%) as compared to 2013 (142,202). The crude death rate increased from 4.7 to 4.8 per 1,000 population for the same period. Overall, from 2013 to 2014, all mortality indicators showed a decline except for maternal mortality ratio showed an inverse trend.

LIVE BIRTHS

Live births by sex

There were 503,914 live births registered in 2013 with an average of 1,400 live births occurring daily which was 58 live births per hour or a baby per minute. From the total of the live births registered in 2013, there were 260,725 live birth for males and 243,189 were females. Meanwhile, live births in 2014 were 511,865; 264,396 males and 247,469 females. For both years, the number of live births for male babies (52%) was higher than female babies (48%). The crude birth rate for females increased from 16.6 to 16.7 per 1,000 population, while males were unchanged at 16.7 per 1,000 population.

Live births by ethnic groups

The number of live births for Bumiputera and Chinese showed an increase from 2013 to 2014. However, the number of live births for Indians and Others showed a decrease for the same period. In 2014, 75.5 per cent from the total of live births were Bumiputera followed by Chinese (14.0%), Others (6.0%) and Indians (4.5%). In addition, Bumiputera recorded the highest crude birth rate of 20.5 per 1,000 population, followed by Indians (11.7), Chinese (10.9) and Others (9.6) (Table 1).

Table 1: Live births by ethnic groups, Malaysia, 2013 and 2014 ^p

FERTILITY

Total fertility rate by ethnic groups

The analysis showed that the total fertility rate was below the replacement level; unchanged at 2.0 per woman aged 15–49 from 2013 to 2014. The fertility rates declined for Indians and Others, while Chinese and Bumiputera were unchanged at 1.4 and 2.6 in the same period. In 2014, the fertility rate for Bumiputera was 2.6 per woman aged 15–49 years, which was above the replacement level. This implies that an average of 2.6 babies would be born to every Bumiputera woman in her reproductive age (15–49 years). By contrast, the rates for both Chinese and Indians were below the replacement level at 1.4 respectively, and Others at 0.9 per woman aged 15–49 years (Chart 1).

Chart 1: Total fertility rate by ethnic groups, Malaysia, 2013 and 2014 ^p

DEATHS

Deaths by sex

There were 142,202 deaths registered in 2013 with an average of 395 deaths per day and almost 17 deaths per hour. From the total deaths registered in 2013, male and female deaths recorded were 81,941 and 60,261 respectively. Meanwhile, the total number of deaths in 2014 were 145,648 which were 83,862 males and 61,786  females. For both years, the number of deaths among males was higher than females that was 58.0 per cent compared to 42.0 per cent. The death rate for female increased from 4.1 (2013) to 4.2 (2014), while males were unchanged at 5.3 per 1,000 population.

Deaths by age groups and sex

For both 2013 and 2014, the death pyramid showed that male deaths were higher than female in every age group except for the age 80 years and over. The number of deaths for 2014 was higher than 2013 for almost all age groups. Female deaths recorded the highest number at the age of 85 years and above (Chart 2).

Chart 2: Deaths by age groups and sex, Malaysia, 2013 and 2014 ^p

Deaths by ethnic groups

The number of deaths for all ethnic groups except for Others showed an increasing trend for the period 2013 to 2014. In terms of the number of registered deaths in 2014, 61.9 per cent were Bumiputera, followed by Chinese (26.6%), Indians (8.6%) and Others (2.9%). In 2014, Indians showed the highest crude death rate of 6.3 followed by Chinese at 5.9 and Bumiputera at 4.8, while Others showed the lowest rate of 1.3 per 1,000 population (Table 2).

Table 2: Deaths by ethnic groups, Malaysia, 2013 and 2014 ^p

NATURAL INCREASE

Crude rate of natural increase by ethnic groups

Crude rate of natural increase was unchanged at 12.0 per 1,000 population from 2013 to 2014.  Bumiputera and Chinese showed an increase while Indians and Others showed an opposite trend during the same period. In 2014, Bumiputera showed the highest crude rate of natural increase of 15.7 per 1,000 population, followed by Others (8.3), Indians (5.4) and Chinese (5.0) (Chart 3).

Chart 3: Crude rate of natural increase by ethnic groups, Malaysia, 2013 and 2014 ^p

STILLBIRTHS

Stillbirths by sex

The number of stillbirths showed an increase by 1.7 per cent from 2,188 (2013) to 2,226 (2014). However, the stillbirth rate was unchanged at 4.3 per 1,000 births for the same period. The stillbirth rate for male increased from 4.5 (2013) to 4.7 (2014), whereas female declined from 4.1 (2013) to 3.9 (2014) per 1,000 births. The number and rate of stillbirths for male were higher than female in this period.

Released By:

THE OFFICE OF CHIEF STATISTICIAN MALAYSIA
DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS, MALAYSIA
31 December 2015

Contact person:
Ho Mei Kei
Public Relation Officer
Corporate and User Services Division
Department of Statistics, Malaysia
Tel : +603-8885 7942
Fax : +603-8888 9248
Email : mkho@stats.gov.my