Fertility & birth rates in Malaysia and South Korea

Fertility rate in Malaysia vs South Korea chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in Malaysia was 1.55 children per woman in 2023, compared to 0.72 in South Korea in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

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

The chart below showcases historical changes in the birth rates.

Table

Year	Fertility rate
	Malaysia	South Korea
1960	6.41	5.99
1961	6.37	5.8
1962	6.3	5.56
1963	6.19	5.33
1964	6.03	5.07
1965	5.84	4.89
1966	5.64	4.78
1967	5.43	4.62
1968	5.29	4.51
1969	5.16	4.45
1970	5.04	4.53
1971	4.92	4.54
1972	4.82	4.12
1973	4.73	4.07
1974	4.62	3.77
1975	4.5	3.43
1976	4.4	3
1977	4.28	2.99
1978	4.18	2.64
1979	4.09	2.9
1980	4.04	2.82
1981	4	2.57
1982	3.97	2.39
1983	3.93	2.06
1984	3.89	1.74
1985	3.8	1.66
1986	3.7	1.58
1987	3.57	1.53
1988	3.5	1.55
1989	3.31	1.56
1990	3.3	1.57
1991	3.34	1.71
1992	3.37	1.76
1993	3.36	1.65
1994	3.35	1.66
1995	3.32	1.63
1996	3.3	1.57
1997	3.23	1.54
1998	3.12	1.46
1999	3.07	1.43
2000	2.94	1.48
2001	2.81	1.31
2002	2.66	1.18
2003	2.6	1.19
2004	2.49	1.16
2005	2.39	1.09
2006	2.31	1.13
2007	2.25	1.26
2008	2.26	1.19
2009	2.22	1.15
2010	2.14	1.23
2011	2.15	1.24
2012	2.12	1.3
2013	2.07	1.19
2014	2.06	1.21
2015	2.01	1.24
2016	1.94	1.17
2017	1.89	1.05
2018	1.84	0.98
2019	1.78	0.92
2020	1.68	0.84
2021	1.56	0.81
2022	1.55	0.78
2023	1.55	0.72
2024	1.54	0.73
2025	1.53	0.75
2026	1.52	0.76
2027	1.51	0.78
2028	1.51	0.79
2029	1.51	0.8
2030	1.51	0.82
2031	1.5	0.83
2032	1.5	0.84
2033	1.5	0.85
2034	1.5	0.86
2035	1.5	0.88
2036	1.51	0.89
2037	1.51	0.9
2038	1.51	0.91
2039	1.51	0.92
2040	1.51	0.93
2041	1.51	0.95
2042	1.51	0.96
2043	1.52	0.96
2044	1.52	0.97
2045	1.52	0.98
2046	1.52	0.99
2047	1.52	1
2048	1.53	1.01
2049	1.53	1.02
2050	1.53	1.03

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Malaysia	South Korea
1960	45.4%	41.3%
1961	45.9%	41.8%
1962	46.3%	42.3%
1963	46.5%	42.7%
1964	46.6%	43.1%
1965	46.5%	43.3%
1966	46.2%	43.5%
1967	45.9%	43.3%
1968	45.5%	43.1%
1969	45%	42.7%
1970	44.5%	42.1%
1971	44%	41.5%
1972	43.4%	41%
1973	42.8%	40.3%
1974	42.2%	39.5%
1975	41.7%	38.5%
1976	41.1%	37.5%
1977	40.6%	36.5%
1978	40.1%	35.6%
1979	39.6%	34.8%
1980	39.2%	34%
1981	38.8%	33.3%
1982	38.6%	32.7%
1983	38.4%	32%
1984	38.2%	31.2%
1985	38.1%	30.2%
1986	38%	29.2%
1987	37.9%	28.2%
1988	37.7%	27.3%
1989	37.5%	26.5%
1990	37.2%	25.8%
1991	36.9%	25.2%
1992	36.6%	24.7%
1993	36.3%	24.2%
1994	36%	23.7%
1995	35.7%	23.1%
1996	35.5%	22.5%
1997	35.3%	22%
1998	35%	21.6%
1999	34.6%	21.2%
2000	34.2%	21%
2001	33.7%	20.8%
2002	33.2%	20.5%
2003	32.6%	20.1%
2004	32%	19.7%
2005	31.4%	19.2%
2006	30.7%	18.7%
2007	30%	18.1%
2008	29.4%	17.5%
2009	28.6%	16.9%
2010	27.9%	16.4%
2011	27.4%	15.8%
2012	27%	15.2%
2013	26.6%	14.7%
2014	26.2%	14.2%
2015	25.8%	13.8%
2016	25.5%	13.4%
2017	25.2%	13%
2018	24.9%	12.7%
2019	24.5%	12.4%
2020	24%	12.1%
2021	23.4%	11.8%
2022	22.8%	11.4%
2023	22.3%	11%
2024	21.8%	10.6%
2025	21.3%	10.2%
2026	20.8%	9.82%
2027	20.4%	9.42%
2028	19.9%	9.06%
2029	19.4%	8.75%
2030	19%	8.43%
2031	18.5%	8.15%
2032	18.1%	7.94%
2033	17.8%	7.79%
2034	17.6%	7.7%
2035	17.4%	7.66%
2036	17.3%	7.65%
2037	17.3%	7.66%
2038	17.2%	7.68%
2039	17.1%	7.71%
2040	17%	7.73%
2041	17%	7.75%
2042	16.9%	7.76%
2043	16.8%	7.77%
2044	16.7%	7.78%
2045	16.7%	7.79%
2046	16.6%	7.8%
2047	16.5%	7.81%
2048	16.4%	7.82%
2049	16.3%	7.82%
2050	16.2%	7.83%

Children aged 0-14 make up 21.8% of the population in Malaysia and 10.6% in South Korea in 2024, compared to 37.2% and 25.8% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Malaysia and South Korea compared.

Natural population change in Malaysia vs South Korea by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.92% in Malaysia and +0.06% in South Korea. 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
	Malaysia	South Korea
1960	251,090	728,010
1961	257,270	730,173
1962	262,140	712,590
1963	265,815	685,824
1964	266,406	655,501
1965	264,836	641,090
1966	262,162	623,534
1967	258,764	692,169
1968	260,705	684,487
1969	264,327	694,227
1970	269,341	747,987
1971	272,323	789,185
1972	276,263	740,469
1973	284,611	699,115
1974	289,880	673,030
1975	294,541	603,300
1976	300,615	530,558
1977	305,515	578,947
1978	311,027	499,084
1979	317,439	623,068
1980	326,947	583,294
1981	339,991	631,189
1982	353,138	605,626
1983	365,290	514,844
1984	376,797	436,384
1985	383,243	416,219
1986	385,799	395,651
1987	381,999	378,758
1988	386,507	399,297
1989	373,277	403,266
1990	384,518	411,546
1991	401,938	467,594
1992	418,900	494,352
1993	429,910	477,302
1994	437,873	473,200
1995	443,349	468,967
1996	450,174	446,142
1997	447,768	422,773
1998	436,316	393,436
1999	432,355	368,272
2000	417,371	390,167
2001	400,939	312,643
2002	381,084	247,752
2003	377,425	244,251
2004	365,138	225,988
2005	355,324	187,920
2006	349,509	203,441
2007	348,711	248,286
2008	362,380	215,841
2009	366,157	197,231
2010	360,260	213,083
2011	372,836	214,728
2012	371,497	215,859
2013	366,738	166,415
2014	367,587	167,464
2015	358,302	163,248
2016	345,681	122,923
2017	336,434	71,907
2018	324,568	30,951
2019	309,426	10,353
2020	283,282	-31,101
2021	212,002	-56,947
2022	237,560	-124,014
2023	254,806	-77,569

Maternal mortality chart: Malaysia vs South Korea

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 26 deaths per 100,000 live births in Malaysia, compared to 4 deaths in South Korea.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Malaysia	South Korea
1985	63	38
1986	59	35
1987	56	34
1988	55	31
1989	52	29
1990	51	28
1991	49	28
1992	48	26
1993	46	24
1994	44	23
1995	43	22
1996	42	20
1997	40	19
1998	39	18
1999	38	17
2000	37	15
2001	36	14
2002	34	13
2003	34	13
2004	33	12
2005	31	11
2006	30	10
2007	30	10
2008	29	9
2009	29	9
2010	29	8
2011	29	8
2012	29	8
2013	29	7
2014	30	7
2015	30	6
2016	30	6
2017	29	6
2018	29	5
2019	28	5
2020	29	12
2021	52	5
2022	38	7
2023	26	4

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.81% in Malaysia and 0.28% in South Korea. 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
	Malaysia	South Korea
1960	9.46%	11.2%
1961	8.83%	10.6%
1962	8.25%	10.1%
1963	7.74%	9.67%
1964	7.28%	9.18%
1965	6.89%	8.68%
1966	6.56%	8.16%
1967	6.27%	7.62%
1968	6.02%	7.1%
1969	5.79%	6.59%
1970	5.56%	6.12%
1971	5.32%	5.71%
1972	5.06%	5.36%
1973	4.79%	5.07%
1974	4.5%	4.82%
1975	4.23%	4.61%
1976	3.97%	4.42%
1977	3.71%	4.23%
1978	3.48%	4.04%
1979	3.25%	3.84%
1980	3.04%	3.63%
1981	2.84%	3.4%
1982	2.65%	3.17%
1983	2.47%	2.93%
1984	2.32%	2.7%
1985	2.18%	2.46%
1986	2.05%	2.25%
1987	1.93%	2.05%
1988	1.83%	1.87%
1989	1.74%	1.71%
1990	1.66%	1.57%
1991	1.58%	1.44%
1992	1.51%	1.33%
1993	1.45%	1.23%
1994	1.39%	1.14%
1995	1.34%	1.05%
1996	1.29%	0.98%
1997	1.23%	0.91%
1998	1.15%	0.85%
1999	1.07%	0.8%
2000	1%	0.75%
2001	0.93%	0.71%
2002	0.88%	0.68%
2003	0.85%	0.64%
2004	0.84%	0.6%
2005	0.83%	0.56%
2006	0.83%	0.52%
2007	0.82%	0.48%
2008	0.82%	0.45%
2009	0.82%	0.43%
2010	0.81%	0.41%
2011	0.81%	0.4%
2012	0.8%	0.38%
2013	0.81%	0.37%
2014	0.81%	0.36%
2015	0.81%	0.35%
2016	0.82%	0.34%
2017	0.82%	0.33%
2018	0.82%	0.32%
2019	0.82%	0.31%
2020	0.81%	0.3%
2021	0.81%	0.29%
2022	0.81%	0.28%
2023	0.81%	0.28%