M’sia needs bigger families to counter shrinking population

PETALING JAYA: The country’s shrinking population can be effectively addressed if more Malaysians chose to have bigger rather than smaller families, says Women, Family, and Community Development Deputy Minister Chew Mei Fun.

According to reports, 15% of Malaysia’s population would be made up of senior citizens by 2030 compared to the current 9% that totalled 2.74 million aged 60 years and above out of the country’s 30.49 million population.

Chew said that while the government was prepared for this eventuality by ensuring the sufficient supply of care and support for senior citizens, each couple making the conscious effort to have more kids, would be another way to keep population numbers up.

“While couples having fewer children are becoming a global trend, people should rediscover what family planning is all about,” The Star Online reported her as saying after launching the Malaysia Creative Sewing Art Associations Handmade Market and exhibition at the AEON Mall here yesterday.

She also explained that while many understood family planning to be “birth control”, it meant more than that. “Family planning is actually about knowing how many children a family wants to have and its capability to do so.”

Having a bigger family would also ensure a better quality of life, Chew explained, seeing as people tended to live longer these days, and would therefore require the need to be cared for by their children or grandchildren.

“If you have the capability, it’s better to have more children so that they can share the responsibility of caring for the elderly. It’s about forward planning,” the English daily reported her saying.

Besides the government, developers as well were incorporating housing designs that provided convenience for the aged, she said, explaining that the country’s aged community was opening a whole new market for elderly healthcare as well as lifestyle services and facilities.

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