Dual fertility trends in Malaysia's multiethnic society
Leete, R.
International Family Planning Perspectives 15(2): 58-65
1989
ISSN/ISBN: 0190-3187 DOI: 10.2307/2133483Document Number: 363761
In 1988, the Malays accounted for 57% of the population of Peninsular Malaysia, the Chinese for 32% and the Indians for 10%, the Malays and Indians being concentrated in rural areas and the Chinese in urban areas. The article examines the factors associatd with changes in Indian and Chinese fertility and with the relative stability of Malay fertility over the past decade. The factors include changes in socioeconomic variables including income and employment, education, urbanization and rural urban migration. Between 1957-77, the total fertility rate (TFR) in Peninsular Malaysia fell from 6.2 births per woman to 4.0, with all of the principal ethnic groups registering fertility declines. However, in 1988, the TFR among the Chinese and Indians was 2.3 and 2.8 births per woman, respectively, but the rate among the Malays was 4.5 births per woman. The levelling of Malay fertility in the past 10 years has been mainly due to a rise in fundamentalist Islamic principles, coupled with pronatalist governmental policies. Data from the 1984/85 Malaysian Population and Family Survey indicate that currently married Chinese and Indian women are considerably more likely than Malay women to practise contraception (64% and 66% vs. 41%, respectively). Furthermore, between 1974-85, use of effective contraceptive methods increased among Chinese and Indian women, but declined among Malays; by 1985, a higher proportion of Malay women were using traditional folk methods of contraception than were using the pill, which had previously been the most popular method. Between 1957 and 1977, the total fertility rate (TFR) in Peninsular Malaysia fell from 6.2 births per woman to 4.0, with all of the principal ethnic groups (Chinese, Indians and Malays) registering fertility declines. However, in 1988, the TFR among the Chinese and Indians was 2.3 and 2.8 births per woman, respectively, but the rate among the Malays was 4.5 births per woman. The leveling of Malay fertility in the past 10 years is mainly due to a rise in fundamentalist Islamic principles, coupled with pronatalist governmental policies.