PUTRAJAYA, June 26 — The government will study the proposal to give incentives for Malaysians to have more children, as practised in several countries including Singapore, to slow the decline in birth rates.
Women, Family and Community Development Minister, Datuk Seri Rohani Abdul Karim, said it was because the country was experiencing a rapid decline in birth rates currently, which was 2.1 children in 2012 compared with three children in 2000.
“The incentive will be a sort of driving force for people to have more children,” she told reporters after opening the National Population Conference 2014, here, today.
Rohani said the birth decline was due to several factors, including late marriages, the increase of women in institutions of higher education and employment which impeded the formation of families, and the problems and costs of childcare.
She said the main effect of the decline would be felt in the contraction of the labour force to be faced by the country in 20 to 30 years.
Therefore, she said, the government was providing various incentives to overcome the problem, including providing more flexible working hours, additional maternity leave and the provision of a grant of RM200,000 for government departments to set up childcare centres at the workplace.
Meanwhile, Rohani said the government was investing on 8.4 million people, aged between 10 and 24 years, by promoting a healthy lifestyle, providing education and employment opportunities and access to health services, to improve the quality of life of future generations.
The National Population Conference 2014, themed 'The Inter-Relationship Between Population Dynamics and Development' is being held in conjunction with World Population Day to be celebrated on July 11 each year. — Bernama
