Fertility & birth rates in Brunei and Malaysia

Fertility rate in Brunei vs Malaysia chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in Brunei was 1.75 children per woman in 2023, compared to 1.55 in Malaysia in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Brunei vs Malaysia population clock for a dynamic visualization of the changing population.

The chart below showcases historical changes in the birth rates.

Table

Year	Fertility rate
	Brunei	Malaysia
1960	7.32	6.41
1961	7.19	6.37
1962	7.03	6.3
1963	6.89	6.19
1964	6.77	6.03
1965	6.65	5.84
1966	6.51	5.64
1967	6.37	5.43
1968	6.2	5.29
1969	6.01	5.16
1970	5.8	5.04
1971	5.62	4.92
1972	5.5	4.82
1973	5.36	4.73
1974	5.18	4.62
1975	4.99	4.5
1976	4.78	4.4
1977	4.58	4.28
1978	4.39	4.18
1979	4.22	4.09
1980	4.07	4.04
1981	3.94	4
1982	3.84	3.97
1983	3.75	3.93
1984	3.68	3.89
1985	3.61	3.8
1986	3.55	3.7
1987	3.49	3.57
1988	3.44	3.5
1989	3.36	3.31
1990	3.29	3.3
1991	3.21	3.34
1992	3.11	3.37
1993	3.01	3.36
1994	2.9	3.35
1995	2.79	3.32
1996	2.68	3.3
1997	2.6	3.23
1998	2.53	3.12
1999	2.46	3.07
2000	2.4	2.94
2001	2.34	2.81
2002	2.26	2.66
2003	2.19	2.6
2004	2.1	2.49
2005	2.02	2.39
2006	1.97	2.31
2007	1.93	2.25
2008	1.92	2.26
2009	1.92	2.22
2010	1.94	2.14
2011	1.96	2.15
2012	1.97	2.12
2013	1.98	2.07
2014	1.97	2.06
2015	1.95	2.01
2016	1.92	1.94
2017	1.88	1.89
2018	1.85	1.84
2019	1.82	1.78
2020	1.8	1.68
2021	1.78	1.56
2022	1.76	1.55
2023	1.75	1.55
2024	1.73	1.54
2025	1.71	1.53
2026	1.7	1.52
2027	1.68	1.51
2028	1.68	1.51
2029	1.67	1.51
2030	1.66	1.51
2031	1.65	1.5
2032	1.65	1.5
2033	1.65	1.5
2034	1.64	1.5
2035	1.64	1.5
2036	1.64	1.51
2037	1.64	1.51
2038	1.64	1.51
2039	1.63	1.51
2040	1.63	1.51
2041	1.63	1.51
2042	1.63	1.51
2043	1.62	1.52
2044	1.62	1.52
2045	1.62	1.52
2046	1.62	1.52
2047	1.62	1.52
2048	1.62	1.53
2049	1.62	1.53
2050	1.61	1.53

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Brunei	Malaysia
1960	44.1%	45.4%
1961	45.2%	45.9%
1962	46.1%	46.3%
1963	46.6%	46.5%
1964	46.6%	46.6%
1965	46.5%	46.5%
1966	46%	46.2%
1967	45.4%	45.9%
1968	44.8%	45.5%
1969	44.2%	45%
1970	43.6%	44.5%
1971	43.3%	44%
1972	43%	43.4%
1973	42.6%	42.8%
1974	42%	42.2%
1975	41.3%	41.7%
1976	40.6%	41.1%
1977	39.9%	40.6%
1978	39.3%	40.1%
1979	38.9%	39.6%
1980	38.5%	39.2%
1981	38.1%	38.8%
1982	37.6%	38.6%
1983	36.9%	38.4%
1984	36.3%	38.2%
1985	35.7%	38.1%
1986	35.2%	38%
1987	34.9%	37.9%
1988	34.7%	37.7%
1989	34.6%	37.5%
1990	34.4%	37.2%
1991	34.4%	36.9%
1992	34.3%	36.6%
1993	34.1%	36.3%
1994	33.7%	36%
1995	33.3%	35.7%
1996	32.7%	35.5%
1997	32.2%	35.3%
1998	31.6%	35%
1999	31%	34.6%
2000	30.3%	34.2%
2001	29.6%	33.7%
2002	28.9%	33.2%
2003	28.1%	32.6%
2004	27.4%	32%
2005	26.7%	31.4%
2006	25.9%	30.7%
2007	25.5%	30%
2008	25.5%	29.4%
2009	25.4%	28.6%
2010	25.3%	27.9%
2011	25.2%	27.4%
2012	24.9%	27%
2013	24.5%	26.6%
2014	24%	26.2%
2015	23.6%	25.8%
2016	23.1%	25.5%
2017	22.7%	25.2%
2018	22.3%	24.9%
2019	21.9%	24.5%
2020	21.6%	24%
2021	21.3%	23.4%
2022	21.2%	22.8%
2023	21%	22.3%
2024	20.8%	21.8%
2025	20.6%	21.3%
2026	20.4%	20.8%
2027	20.1%	20.4%
2028	19.8%	19.9%
2029	19.5%	19.4%
2030	19.1%	19%
2031	18.8%	18.5%
2032	18.5%	18.1%
2033	18.2%	17.8%
2034	18%	17.6%
2035	17.7%	17.4%
2036	17.5%	17.3%
2037	17.2%	17.3%
2038	17%	17.2%
2039	16.8%	17.1%
2040	16.6%	17%
2041	16.4%	17%
2042	16.3%	16.9%
2043	16.1%	16.8%
2044	16%	16.7%
2045	15.9%	16.7%
2046	15.8%	16.6%
2047	15.7%	16.5%
2048	15.7%	16.4%
2049	15.6%	16.3%
2050	15.6%	16.2%

Children aged 0-14 make up 20.8% of the population in Brunei and 21.8% in Malaysia in 2024, compared to 34.4% and 37.2% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Brunei and Malaysia compared.

Natural population change in Brunei vs Malaysia by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +1.01% in Brunei and +0.92% in Malaysia. The chart below illustrates the comparison of the absolute yearly changes resulting from births and deaths.

Table

Year	Population change due to births and deaths
	Brunei	Malaysia
1960	3,168	251,090
1961	3,175	257,270
1962	3,128	262,140
1963	3,195	265,815
1964	3,264	266,406
1965	3,326	264,836
1966	3,403	262,162
1967	3,477	258,764
1968	3,551	260,705
1969	3,618	264,327
1970	3,694	269,341
1971	3,880	272,323
1972	4,085	276,263
1973	4,216	284,611
1974	4,334	289,880
1975	4,431	294,541
1976	4,518	300,615
1977	4,594	305,515
1978	4,668	311,027
1979	4,717	317,439
1980	4,775	326,947
1981	4,839	339,991
1982	4,931	353,138
1983	5,138	365,290
1984	5,373	376,797
1985	5,620	383,243
1986	5,826	385,799
1987	6,017	381,999
1988	6,135	386,507
1989	6,202	373,277
1990	6,265	384,518
1991	6,259	401,938
1992	6,169	418,900
1993	6,045	429,910
1994	5,907	437,873
1995	5,750	443,349
1996	5,606	450,174
1997	5,518	447,768
1998	5,466	436,316
1999	5,388	432,355
2000	5,331	417,371
2001	5,275	400,939
2002	5,169	381,084
2003	5,034	377,425
2004	4,874	365,138
2005	4,703	355,324
2006	4,590	349,509
2007	4,521	348,711
2008	4,624	362,380
2009	4,789	366,157
2010	5,003	360,260
2011	5,242	372,836
2012	5,349	371,497
2013	5,302	366,738
2014	5,206	367,587
2015	5,060	358,302
2016	4,876	345,681
2017	4,685	336,434
2018	4,502	324,568
2019	4,335	309,426
2020	4,188	283,282
2021	3,985	212,002
2022	3,319	237,560
2023	3,837	254,806

Maternal mortality chart: Brunei vs Malaysia

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 36 deaths per 100,000 live births in Brunei, compared to 26 deaths in Malaysia.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Brunei	Malaysia
1985	79	63
1986	78	59
1987	75	56
1988	73	55
1989	71	52
1990	68	51
1991	65	49
1992	62	48
1993	59	46
1994	58	44
1995	55	43
1996	54	42
1997	52	40
1998	51	39
1999	50	38
2000	48	37
2001	46	36
2002	46	34
2003	45	34
2004	44	33
2005	43	31
2006	42	30
2007	41	30
2008	40	29
2009	40	29
2010	40	29
2011	40	29
2012	40	29
2013	40	29
2014	40	30
2015	39	30
2016	39	30
2017	39	29
2018	39	29
2019	38	28
2020	39	29
2021	44	52
2022	88	38
2023	36	26

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.94% in Brunei and 0.81% in Malaysia. Below is the historical data on under-five mortality rates.

Table

Year	Mortality rate before reaching 5 years of age, per 1,000 live births
	Brunei	Malaysia
1960	8.9%	9.46%
1961	8.24%	8.83%
1962	7.66%	8.25%
1963	7.15%	7.74%
1964	6.7%	7.28%
1965	6.32%	6.89%
1966	5.98%	6.56%
1967	5.69%	6.27%
1968	5.42%	6.02%
1969	5.16%	5.79%
1970	4.91%	5.56%
1971	4.64%	5.32%
1972	4.35%	5.06%
1973	4.06%	4.79%
1974	3.77%	4.5%
1975	3.49%	4.23%
1976	3.21%	3.97%
1977	2.95%	3.71%
1978	2.71%	3.48%
1979	2.48%	3.25%
1980	2.28%	3.04%
1981	2.09%	2.84%
1982	1.93%	2.65%
1983	1.79%	2.47%
1984	1.67%	2.32%
1985	1.57%	2.18%
1986	1.48%	2.05%
1987	1.42%	1.93%
1988	1.38%	1.83%
1989	1.35%	1.74%
1990	1.33%	1.66%
1991	1.32%	1.58%
1992	1.31%	1.51%
1993	1.3%	1.45%
1994	1.27%	1.39%
1995	1.23%	1.34%
1996	1.19%	1.29%
1997	1.15%	1.23%
1998	1.1%	1.15%
1999	1.07%	1.07%
2000	1.03%	1%
2001	1%	0.93%
2002	0.98%	0.88%
2003	0.96%	0.85%
2004	0.95%	0.84%
2005	0.95%	0.83%
2006	0.95%	0.83%
2007	0.95%	0.82%
2008	0.96%	0.82%
2009	0.96%	0.82%
2010	0.97%	0.81%
2011	0.98%	0.81%
2012	0.99%	0.8%
2013	0.99%	0.81%
2014	1%	0.81%
2015	1%	0.81%
2016	1%	0.82%
2017	1%	0.82%
2018	0.99%	0.82%
2019	0.98%	0.82%
2020	0.97%	0.81%
2021	0.96%	0.81%
2022	0.95%	0.81%
2023	0.94%	0.81%