Persidangan Kependudukan Kebangsaan 2021 (PERKKS21)

The National Population Conference 2021, or PERKKS21, marked an important rebranding of LPPKN’s long-standing population conference series, which had been organised since 2006. This rebranding reflected LPPKN’s effort to strengthen the identity, visibility and strategic direction of its national population discourse platform in line with emerging demographic, family and social development challenges.

PERKKS21 was held on 16–17 November 2021 and conducted fully online. Carrying the theme “Quality Population and Family as Catalysts for Sustainable Development”, the conference continued LPPKN’s commitment to bringing together policymakers, researchers, practitioners, academics and stakeholders to discuss population and family issues that shape Malaysia’s development agenda.

Objectives

PERKKS21 aimed to strengthen understanding of current and emerging population issues in Malaysia, while encouraging evidence-based discussion among researchers, policymakers and programme implementers. It also sought to promote the use of research findings in policy planning, strengthen cross-sector collaboration and enhance awareness of population and family development challenges.

Participation and Programme

The conference was conducted entirely online and recorded approximately 350 participants from various agencies, institutions and stakeholder groups. The programme featured one plenary session involving four panellists, providing a focused discussion on key population and development issues relevant to Malaysia’s future.

Key Outcomes

PERKKS21 successfully positioned the rebranded conference as a renewed national platform for population discourse. It sustained stakeholder engagement during a challenging period and demonstrated the potential of digital platforms to expand access to policy and research discussions. More importantly, PERKKS21 strengthened LPPKN’s role as a national thought leader in population and family research. As a continuation of the conference series initiated since 2006, it laid a stronger foundation for future PERKKS editions as a strategic space for translating demographic evidence into policy ideas, partnerships and action.