PETALING JAYA: More baby boys than girls were born in the third quarter of this year, with 64,028 male births recorded compared to 60,122 of females, says the Department of Statistics.
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However, it was not quite joyful news when it comes to live birth rates, which shrunk by 3% compared to the third quarter of last year.
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said a total of 124,150 live births were recorded in the third quarter of this year compared to 127,956 in the same period last year.
“Selangor remained the highest state with live births recording 24,246 births, while the lowest birth rate was recorded in Labuan with 427 births,” he said.
In a statement, he said the country’s population was also estimated to have increased by 0.6% in the third quarter of 2019 with about 32.63 million people living in Malaysia compared to 32.43 million in the same period last year.
About 90.3% of the population was made up of citizens.
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The statement also noted that the country’s male population increased to 16.85 million this period compared to 16.74 million in the last period, while women now number about 15.78 million compared to 15.69 million last year.
The sex ratio remained at 107 males to 100 females.
The country is also fast becoming an ageing nation with the number of people over 65 years increasing from 2.12 million in the third quarter of 2018 to 2.21 million in the same period this year.
The number of those aged between 15 and 64 also went up from 22.64 million to 22.85 million, while people in the younger age bracket, aged from 0 to 14, decreased from 7.68 million to 7.57 million.
The country’s death rate also decreased by 0.9% in the third quarter of 2019 with a total of 41,772 deaths recorded compared to 42,156 in the same period last year. -The Star