Fertility & birth rates in Malawi and Malaysia

Fertility rate in Malawi vs Malaysia chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in Malawi was 3.65 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 Malawi 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
	Malawi	Malaysia
1960	7.04	6.41
1961	7.07	6.37
1962	7.1	6.3
1963	7.13	6.19
1964	7.11	6.03
1965	7.13	5.84
1966	7.17	5.64
1967	7.21	5.43
1968	7.26	5.29
1969	7.27	5.16
1970	7.3	5.04
1971	7.31	4.92
1972	7.33	4.82
1973	7.34	4.73
1974	7.34	4.62
1975	7.36	4.5
1976	7.39	4.4
1977	7.41	4.28
1978	7.43	4.18
1979	7.47	4.09
1980	7.52	4.04
1981	7.49	4
1982	7.45	3.97
1983	7.36	3.93
1984	7.27	3.89
1985	7.17	3.8
1986	7.07	3.7
1987	6.97	3.57
1988	6.88	3.5
1989	6.8	3.31
1990	6.74	3.3
1991	6.68	3.34
1992	6.63	3.37
1993	6.57	3.36
1994	6.49	3.35
1995	6.39	3.32
1996	6.29	3.3
1997	6.23	3.23
1998	6.21	3.12
1999	6.12	3.07
2000	6	2.94
2001	5.94	2.81
2002	5.9	2.66
2003	5.88	2.6
2004	5.86	2.49
2005	5.85	2.39
2006	5.8	2.31
2007	5.72	2.25
2008	5.61	2.26
2009	5.45	2.22
2010	5.26	2.14
2011	5.08	2.15
2012	4.9	2.12
2013	4.76	2.07
2014	4.57	2.06
2015	4.38	2.01
2016	4.22	1.94
2017	4.11	1.89
2018	4.02	1.84
2019	3.95	1.78
2020	3.88	1.68
2021	3.79	1.56
2022	3.72	1.55
2023	3.65	1.55
2024	3.59	1.54
2025	3.53	1.53
2026	3.45	1.52
2027	3.39	1.51
2028	3.33	1.51
2029	3.29	1.51
2030	3.23	1.51
2031	3.18	1.5
2032	3.13	1.5
2033	3.09	1.5
2034	3.05	1.5
2035	3.01	1.5
2036	2.97	1.51
2037	2.93	1.51
2038	2.89	1.51
2039	2.86	1.51
2040	2.82	1.51
2041	2.79	1.51
2042	2.76	1.51
2043	2.73	1.52
2044	2.7	1.52
2045	2.67	1.52
2046	2.64	1.52
2047	2.61	1.52
2048	2.59	1.53
2049	2.57	1.53
2050	2.54	1.53

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Malawi	Malaysia
1960	43.1%	45.4%
1961	42.9%	45.9%
1962	42.8%	46.3%
1963	42.9%	46.5%
1964	43%	46.6%
1965	43.2%	46.5%
1966	43.4%	46.2%
1967	43.7%	45.9%
1968	43.9%	45.5%
1969	44.2%	45%
1970	44.4%	44.5%
1971	44.6%	44%
1972	44.8%	43.4%
1973	44.9%	42.8%
1974	45.1%	42.2%
1975	45.2%	41.7%
1976	45.2%	41.1%
1977	45.3%	40.6%
1978	45.3%	40.1%
1979	45.3%	39.6%
1980	45.4%	39.2%
1981	45.4%	38.8%
1982	45.4%	38.6%
1983	45.5%	38.4%
1984	45.5%	38.2%
1985	45.4%	38.1%
1986	45.4%	38%
1987	45.1%	37.9%
1988	45%	37.7%
1989	45.2%	37.5%
1990	45.4%	37.2%
1991	45.6%	36.9%
1992	45.8%	36.6%
1993	46%	36.3%
1994	46.1%	36%
1995	46.1%	35.7%
1996	46.2%	35.5%
1997	46.2%	35.3%
1998	46.2%	35%
1999	46.2%	34.6%
2000	46.2%	34.2%
2001	46.1%	33.7%
2002	46.1%	33.2%
2003	46.1%	32.6%
2004	46%	32%
2005	46%	31.4%
2006	46.1%	30.7%
2007	46.1%	30%
2008	46.1%	29.4%
2009	46.2%	28.6%
2010	46.2%	27.9%
2011	46.2%	27.4%
2012	46.1%	27%
2013	46%	26.6%
2014	45.7%	26.2%
2015	45.4%	25.8%
2016	45.1%	25.5%
2017	44.6%	25.2%
2018	44.2%	24.9%
2019	43.7%	24.5%
2020	43.1%	24%
2021	42.5%	23.4%
2022	41.9%	22.8%
2023	41.3%	22.3%
2024	40.7%	21.8%
2025	40.1%	21.3%
2026	39.6%	20.8%
2027	39.1%	20.4%
2028	38.6%	19.9%
2029	38.1%	19.4%
2030	37.7%	19%
2031	37.4%	18.5%
2032	37%	18.1%
2033	36.7%	17.8%
2034	36.4%	17.6%
2035	36%	17.4%
2036	35.7%	17.3%
2037	35.3%	17.3%
2038	35%	17.2%
2039	34.6%	17.1%
2040	34.2%	17%
2041	33.9%	17%
2042	33.5%	16.9%
2043	33.1%	16.8%
2044	32.7%	16.7%
2045	32.3%	16.7%
2046	31.9%	16.6%
2047	31.5%	16.5%
2048	31.2%	16.4%
2049	30.8%	16.3%
2050	30.5%	16.2%

Children aged 0-14 make up 40.7% of the population in Malawi and 21.8% in Malaysia in 2024, compared to 45.4% and 37.2% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Malawi and Malaysia compared.

Natural population change in Malawi vs Malaysia by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +2.67% in Malawi 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
	Malawi	Malaysia
1960	85,718	251,090
1961	89,091	257,270
1962	92,463	262,140
1963	95,933	265,815
1964	97,658	266,406
1965	100,040	264,836
1966	103,512	262,162
1967	106,668	258,764
1968	110,329	260,705
1969	113,120	264,327
1970	116,822	269,341
1971	121,015	272,323
1972	125,728	276,263
1973	131,529	284,611
1974	137,819	289,880
1975	145,254	294,541
1976	153,422	300,615
1977	161,930	305,515
1978	172,503	311,027
1979	182,123	317,439
1980	192,746	326,947
1981	199,436	339,991
1982	205,386	353,138
1983	209,422	365,290
1984	212,146	376,797
1985	216,179	383,243
1986	218,519	385,799
1987	220,566	381,999
1988	226,911	386,507
1989	237,967	373,277
1990	250,159	384,518
1991	260,193	401,938
1992	269,066	418,900
1993	276,538	429,910
1994	275,439	437,873
1995	266,745	443,349
1996	270,048	450,174
1997	277,433	447,768
1998	285,407	436,316
1999	295,629	432,355
2000	300,439	417,371
2001	310,833	400,939
2002	322,863	381,084
2003	341,133	377,425
2004	361,133	365,138
2005	381,130	355,324
2006	397,123	349,509
2007	410,290	348,711
2008	421,781	362,380
2009	434,811	366,157
2010	444,468	360,260
2011	454,149	372,836
2012	460,684	371,497
2013	470,293	366,738
2014	472,418	367,587
2015	472,484	358,302
2016	474,779	345,681
2017	484,655	336,434
2018	494,348	324,568
2019	506,104	309,426
2020	514,659	283,282
2021	517,400	212,002
2022	533,450	237,560
2023	549,096	254,806

Maternal mortality chart: Malawi vs Malaysia

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 225 deaths per 100,000 live births in Malawi, compared to 26 deaths in Malaysia.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Malawi	Malaysia
1985	1,115	63
1986	1,118	59
1987	1,123	56
1988	1,154	55
1989	1,136	52
1990	1,112	51
1991	1,080	49
1992	1,042	48
1993	1,000	46
1994	912	44
1995	782	43
1996	713	42
1997	672	40
1998	658	39
1999	576	38
2000	506	37
2001	447	36
2002	404	34
2003	346	34
2004	304	33
2005	283	31
2006	286	30
2007	333	30
2008	430	29
2009	512	29
2010	517	29
2011	486	29
2012	447	29
2013	410	29
2014	367	30
2015	354	30
2016	312	30
2017	284	29
2018	267	29
2019	260	28
2020	256	29
2021	286	52
2022	239	38
2023	225	26

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 3.83% in Malawi 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
	Malawi	Malaysia
1960	-	9.46%
1961	35.9%	8.83%
1962	35.8%	8.25%
1963	35.7%	7.74%
1964	35.5%	7.28%
1965	35.4%	6.89%
1966	35.3%	6.56%
1967	35.1%	6.27%
1968	35%	6.02%
1969	34.7%	5.79%
1970	34.4%	5.56%
1971	33.9%	5.32%
1972	33.2%	5.06%
1973	32.4%	4.79%
1974	31.5%	4.5%
1975	30.6%	4.23%
1976	29.7%	3.97%
1977	28.7%	3.71%
1978	27.6%	3.48%
1979	26.5%	3.25%
1980	25.6%	3.04%
1981	24.9%	2.84%
1982	24.5%	2.65%
1983	24.5%	2.47%
1984	24.8%	2.32%
1985	25.1%	2.18%
1986	25.4%	2.05%
1987	25.5%	1.93%
1988	25.3%	1.83%
1989	24.9%	1.74%
1990	24.3%	1.66%
1991	23.6%	1.58%
1992	22.8%	1.51%
1993	22%	1.45%
1994	21.3%	1.39%
1995	20.7%	1.34%
1996	20.2%	1.29%
1997	19.7%	1.23%
1998	19.2%	1.15%
1999	18.4%	1.07%
2000	17.3%	1%
2001	16%	0.93%
2002	14.6%	0.88%
2003	13.2%	0.85%
2004	11.9%	0.84%
2005	11%	0.83%
2006	10.3%	0.83%
2007	9.83%	0.82%
2008	9.31%	0.82%
2009	8.81%	0.82%
2010	8.3%	0.81%
2011	7.67%	0.81%
2012	6.98%	0.8%
2013	6.4%	0.81%
2014	6.02%	0.81%
2015	5.67%	0.81%
2016	5.35%	0.82%
2017	5.06%	0.82%
2018	4.75%	0.82%
2019	4.55%	0.82%
2020	4.31%	0.81%
2021	4.15%	0.81%
2022	3.99%	0.81%
2023	3.83%	0.81%