SELANGOR hopes quality data will help the state government formulate suitable policies to address the lower birth rate in the country.

Women, family empowerment, welfare and care economy committee chairman Anfaal Saari said with the national total fertility rate (TFR) having dropped from 2.1 children in 2010 to 1.6 in 2022, Selangor was concerned that this would impact the nation’s socio-economic growth.

She was speaking at the launch of the Selangor State Population Seminar 2024, which was held in conjunction with World Population Day.

Anfaal encouraged the public to cooperate with the National Population and Family Development Board (LPPKN) surveyors who were carrying out the Sixth Malaysia National Population and Family Survey (KPKM-6) 2024, until Dec 31.

She said the data from the survey would help policymakers, academicians and research experts prepare a plan of implementation to slow the decline in fertility rate and prepare Selangor for rapid demographic changes.

“In Selangor, some 3,000 selected residential areas will be visited by the surveyors and I hope the residents will give their cooperation,” she said.

Anfaal said this was the first time the state held such a seminar because it was important to understand the impact of a declining rate on the state and the policies needed to address the issue of fertility.

The seminar, held at a hotel in Shah Alam, was a collaboration between the state government, LPPKN, state-level board and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Malaysia.

Meanwhile, United Nations Sexual and Reproductive Health Agency assistant representative Tengku Aira Tengku Razif said fertility and birth rates were shaped by numerous socio-economic and health factors which were often overlooked.

“Selangor, as the nation’s most populous state, has the opportunity to pave the way in terms of prioritising disaggregated data collection (data that is broken down into components) to inform inclusive policymaking.

“By gathering data from often overlooked groups like rural, indigenous and stateless communities, we can better understand their needs and find ways to improve access to essential services, including healthcare and reproductive healthcare,” said Tengku Aira.

It was reported that Selangor recorded a total fertility rate of 1.5 children per woman in 2022, the fourth lowest after Sabah, Penang and Kuala Lumpur.

LPPKN research director Adzmel Mahmud had said that the main factors for a lower birth rate were the rise in the number of women at higher learning institutions, late marriage and family planning.

He said the Fifth Malaysian Population and Family Survey revealed that though 86.8% of single people in the country aged 25 to 49 want to be married, they aim for late marriage.

“Research found that men want to marry at 32 and women at 30.

“This age is higher than the first marriage ages recorded by the Statistics Department in 2021 – 29.9 years for men and 28 years for women,” he said.