KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 6 – The number of live births in Malaysia overall decreased by 9.0 per cent last year, plummeting from a total of 455,761 live births in 2023 to 414,918 live births in 2024, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia’s (DOSM’s) Children Statistics Malaysia 2025 report.
The number of live births among boys declined by 9.3 per cent from 235, 918 in 2023 to 213,919 in 2024.
Meanwhile, the number of live births among girls dipped by 8.5 per cent from 219,780 in 2023 to 200,999 in 2024.
The overall rate of live births in 2024 fell to 12.2 per 1,000 population from 13.6 per 1,000 population in 2023.
Under-5 Mortality
The number of deaths among children under-5 in 2024 decreased by 4.3 per cent, from 3,763 in 2023 to 3,602 in 2024.
Deaths among boys under-5 decreased by 7.7 per cent to 1,985 deaths in 2024 from 2,150 deaths in 2023.
Among girls under-5 though, the number of deaths increased slightly by 0.2 per cent from 1,613 in 2023 to 1,617 in 2024.
While the number of deaths declined overall for children under-5 from 2023 to 2024, mortality rates for this age group shot up to 8.7 per 1,000 live births last year from 8.3 per 1,000 live births in the previous year.
The under-5 mortality rate for boys went slightly up from 9.1 per 1,000 live births in 2023 to 9.3 per 1,000 live births in 2024, while girls under-5 had an increased mortality rate of 8.0 per 1,000 live births in 2024, up from 7.3 per 1000 live births in 2023.
Vaccination Coverage For Infants
Vaccination coverage for infants in 2024 showed a decrease for all five types of vaccines administered to infants in the country.
The five types of immunisations administered to infants in Malaysia are Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG), Poliomyelitis (Polio), Diphtheria, Tetanus & Pertussis (DTP), Haemophilus Influenzae Type B (HIB) and Hepatitis B.
Coverage of the Polio, DTP, HIB and Hepatitis B vaccines decreased by the same amount at 6.1 percentage points from 107.7 per cent in 2023 to 101.6 per cent in 2024.
Meanwhile, BCG showed a smaller decrease of 0.3 percentage points to 98.4 per cent in 2024 from 98.7 per cent in 2023.
HIV And AIDS Among 19 And Below
The number of HIV cases among individuals aged 19 and below rose by 15.2 per cent from 125 cases in 2023 to 144 in 2024.
Males far outnumber females in total cases in 2024 for this age group, comprising 91.7 per cent (132) of cases, while HIV cases among females constitute 8.3 per cent (12).
In total, there were nine cases of HIV among children below 13 in 2024, consisting of seven cases among boys and two cases among girls.
For the 13 to 19 age group, there were 135 HIV cases, comprising 125 cases among males and 10 cases among females.
Meanwhile, cases of AIDS among individuals aged 19 and below dipped by 16.7 per cent from 24 cases in 2023 to 20 cases in 2024.
Males also exceeded females, constituting 75 per cent (15) of the caseload in 2024 with females making up the remaining quarter (5).
However, girls made up all two cases of AIDS among children under 13. There were no cases involving boys in this age category.
In the 13 to 19 age group though, males comprised 83.3 per cent of the caseload with 15 cases, while females only accounted for three cases (16.7 per cent).
