Fertility & birth rates in China and Malaysia

Fertility rate in China vs Malaysia chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in China was 1 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 China 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
	China	Malaysia
1960	4.45	6.41
1961	3.86	6.37
1962	6.09	6.3
1963	7.51	6.19
1964	6.67	6.03
1965	6.61	5.84
1966	6.31	5.64
1967	5.81	5.43
1968	6.51	5.29
1969	6.18	5.16
1970	6.09	5.04
1971	5.52	4.92
1972	5.11	4.82
1973	4.73	4.73
1974	4.17	4.62
1975	3.57	4.5
1976	3.24	4.4
1977	2.84	4.28
1978	2.72	4.18
1979	2.75	4.09
1980	2.74	4.04
1981	2.79	4
1982	2.97	3.97
1983	2.56	3.93
1984	2.61	3.89
1985	2.63	3.8
1986	2.72	3.7
1987	2.76	3.57
1988	2.54	3.5
1989	2.52	3.31
1990	2.51	3.3
1991	1.93	3.34
1992	1.78	3.37
1993	1.69	3.36
1994	1.63	3.35
1995	1.59	3.32
1996	1.55	3.3
1997	1.53	3.23
1998	1.52	3.12
1999	1.53	3.07
2000	1.63	2.94
2001	1.56	2.81
2002	1.57	2.66
2003	1.57	2.6
2004	1.61	2.49
2005	1.62	2.39
2006	1.64	2.31
2007	1.67	2.25
2008	1.7	2.26
2009	1.71	2.22
2010	1.69	2.14
2011	1.67	2.15
2012	1.8	2.12
2013	1.71	2.07
2014	1.77	2.06
2015	1.67	2.01
2016	1.77	1.94
2017	1.8	1.89
2018	1.54	1.84
2019	1.5	1.78
2020	1.24	1.68
2021	1.12	1.56
2022	1.03	1.55
2023	1	1.55
2024	1.01	1.54
2025	1.02	1.53
2026	1.03	1.52
2027	1.04	1.51
2028	1.05	1.51
2029	1.05	1.51
2030	1.06	1.51
2031	1.07	1.5
2032	1.08	1.5
2033	1.08	1.5
2034	1.09	1.5
2035	1.1	1.5
2036	1.1	1.51
2037	1.11	1.51
2038	1.12	1.51
2039	1.12	1.51
2040	1.13	1.51
2041	1.13	1.51
2042	1.14	1.51
2043	1.15	1.52
2044	1.15	1.52
2045	1.16	1.52
2046	1.16	1.52
2047	1.17	1.52
2048	1.17	1.53
2049	1.18	1.53
2050	1.18	1.53

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	China	Malaysia
1960	40.3%	45.4%
1961	40%	45.9%
1962	40%	46.3%
1963	40.6%	46.5%
1964	41.2%	46.6%
1965	41.5%	46.5%
1966	41.5%	46.2%
1967	41.3%	45.9%
1968	41%	45.5%
1969	41%	45%
1970	40.8%	44.5%
1971	40.7%	44%
1972	40.4%	43.4%
1973	40.1%	42.8%
1974	40.2%	42.2%
1975	40.2%	41.7%
1976	40.3%	41.1%
1977	39.8%	40.6%
1978	38.6%	40.1%
1979	37.2%	39.6%
1980	36.1%	39.2%
1981	35.1%	38.8%
1982	34.3%	38.6%
1983	33.3%	38.4%
1984	32.2%	38.2%
1985	31.2%	38.1%
1986	30.4%	38%
1987	29.8%	37.9%
1988	29.3%	37.7%
1989	28.9%	37.5%
1990	28.8%	37.2%
1991	28.6%	36.9%
1992	28.4%	36.6%
1993	28.2%	36.3%
1994	27.8%	36%
1995	27.4%	35.7%
1996	27%	35.5%
1997	26.3%	35.3%
1998	25.7%	35%
1999	25.2%	34.6%
2000	24.5%	34.2%
2001	23.8%	33.7%
2002	22.9%	33.2%
2003	22%	32.6%
2004	21.2%	32%
2005	20.3%	31.4%
2006	19.6%	30.7%
2007	19.2%	30%
2008	18.9%	29.4%
2009	18.6%	28.6%
2010	18.5%	27.9%
2011	18.3%	27.4%
2012	18.3%	27%
2013	18.3%	26.6%
2014	18.3%	26.2%
2015	18.3%	25.8%
2016	18.3%	25.5%
2017	18.4%	25.2%
2018	18.3%	24.9%
2019	18.2%	24.5%
2020	18%	24%
2021	17.6%	23.4%
2022	17.1%	22.8%
2023	16.6%	22.3%
2024	16%	21.8%
2025	15.4%	21.3%
2026	14.8%	20.8%
2027	14.1%	20.4%
2028	13.5%	19.9%
2029	12.8%	19.4%
2030	12.1%	19%
2031	11.5%	18.5%
2032	10.8%	18.1%
2033	10.3%	17.8%
2034	9.83%	17.6%
2035	9.53%	17.4%
2036	9.37%	17.3%
2037	9.31%	17.3%
2038	9.31%	17.2%
2039	9.34%	17.1%
2040	9.38%	17%
2041	9.43%	17%
2042	9.49%	16.9%
2043	9.56%	16.8%
2044	9.63%	16.7%
2045	9.71%	16.7%
2046	9.78%	16.6%
2047	9.85%	16.5%
2048	9.9%	16.4%
2049	9.93%	16.3%
2050	9.94%	16.2%

Children aged 0-14 make up 16% of the population in China and 21.8% in Malaysia in 2024, compared to 28.8% and 37.2% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of China and Malaysia compared.

Natural population change in China vs Malaysia by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.31% in China 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
	China	Malaysia
1960	-3,048,510	251,090
1961	2,496,047	257,270
1962	17,969,132	262,140
1963	22,742,225	265,815
1964	19,302,532	266,406
1965	20,296,950	264,836
1966	19,282,187	262,162
1967	19,263,662	258,764
1968	21,206,083	260,705
1969	20,760,332	264,327
1970	21,137,076	269,341
1971	19,622,980	272,323
1972	19,102,585	276,263
1973	18,423,727	284,611
1974	15,738,118	289,880
1975	14,378,237	294,541
1976	11,782,472	300,615
1977	11,378,068	305,515
1978	11,473,980	311,027
1979	11,250,148	317,439
1980	11,647,260	326,947
1981	14,461,027	339,991
1982	15,815,318	353,138
1983	13,599,789	365,290
1984	13,561,671	376,797
1985	14,987,830	383,243
1986	16,609,920	385,799
1987	18,005,821	381,999
1988	17,328,640	386,507
1989	16,824,495	373,277
1990	16,335,313	384,518
1991	14,937,124	401,938
1992	13,548,601	418,900
1993	13,493,138	429,910
1994	13,360,470	437,873
1995	12,711,220	443,349
1996	12,686,872	450,174
1997	12,374,554	447,768
1998	11,351,286	436,316
1999	10,247,372	432,355
2000	9,570,849	417,371
2001	8,839,358	400,939
2002	8,258,580	381,084
2003	7,743,284	377,425
2004	7,607,960	365,138
2005	7,678,911	355,324
2006	6,922,185	349,509
2007	6,813,465	348,711
2008	6,729,247	362,380
2009	6,483,236	366,157
2010	6,407,607	360,260
2011	8,245,065	372,836
2012	10,075,174	371,497
2013	8,043,116	366,738
2014	9,205,180	367,587
2015	6,788,911	358,302
2016	9,062,269	345,681
2017	7,790,880	336,434
2018	5,302,433	324,568
2019	4,673,713	309,426
2020	2,046,095	283,282
2021	480,203	212,002
2022	-847,305	237,560
2023	-2,087,851	254,806

Maternal mortality chart: China vs Malaysia

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 16 deaths per 100,000 live births in China, compared to 26 deaths in Malaysia.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	China	Malaysia
1985	125	63
1986	120	59
1987	114	56
1988	108	55
1989	104	52
1990	102	51
1991	92	49
1992	86	48
1993	80	46
1994	76	44
1995	71	43
1996	67	42
1997	63	40
1998	60	39
1999	58	38
2000	56	37
2001	52	36
2002	50	34
2003	47	34
2004	45	33
2005	42	31
2006	40	30
2007	38	30
2008	38	29
2009	35	29
2010	34	29
2011	33	29
2012	32	29
2013	30	29
2014	28	30
2015	26	30
2016	25	30
2017	24	29
2018	22	29
2019	21	28
2020	20	29
2021	21	52
2022	18	38
2023	16	26

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.62% in China 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
	China	Malaysia
1960	-	9.46%
1961	-	8.83%
1962	-	8.25%
1963	-	7.74%
1964	-	7.28%
1965	-	6.89%
1966	-	6.56%
1967	-	6.27%
1968	-	6.02%
1969	11.9%	5.79%
1970	11.3%	5.56%
1971	10.7%	5.32%
1972	10.2%	5.06%
1973	9.61%	4.79%
1974	9.05%	4.5%
1975	8.5%	4.23%
1976	7.97%	3.97%
1977	7.47%	3.71%
1978	7.01%	3.48%
1979	6.62%	3.25%
1980	6.28%	3.04%
1981	6%	2.84%
1982	5.78%	2.65%
1983	5.61%	2.47%
1984	5.5%	2.32%
1985	5.43%	2.18%
1986	5.4%	2.05%
1987	5.4%	1.93%
1988	5.4%	1.83%
1989	5.39%	1.74%
1990	5.37%	1.66%
1991	5.31%	1.58%
1992	5.22%	1.51%
1993	5.08%	1.45%
1994	4.93%	1.39%
1995	4.75%	1.34%
1996	4.56%	1.29%
1997	4.36%	1.23%
1998	4.14%	1.15%
1999	3.91%	1.07%
2000	3.67%	1%
2001	3.42%	0.93%
2002	3.15%	0.88%
2003	2.89%	0.85%
2004	2.64%	0.84%
2005	2.4%	0.83%
2006	2.19%	0.83%
2007	2.01%	0.82%
2008	1.85%	0.82%
2009	1.71%	0.82%
2010	1.58%	0.81%
2011	1.46%	0.81%
2012	1.35%	0.8%
2013	1.25%	0.81%
2014	1.15%	0.81%
2015	1.07%	0.81%
2016	0.99%	0.82%
2017	0.92%	0.82%
2018	0.86%	0.82%
2019	0.8%	0.82%
2020	0.75%	0.81%
2021	0.7%	0.81%
2022	0.66%	0.81%
2023	0.62%	0.81%