Slow population growth hampers efforts to raise income, productivity - analysis

Malaysia's slowing population growth is putting pressure on the country to focus on raising incomes and productivity, as businesses can no longer rely on a growing workforce and consumer base. The analysis by Girish Mavath Ramachandran reveals that live births have fallen from 521,136 in 2015 to 414,918 in 2024, while the total fertility rate has declined from 2.0 to about 1.6.

While real median household income has increased by about 27% after adjusting for inflation, the challenge for the economy is to sustain and strengthen future income growth, as demographic expansion becomes a weaker source of economic momentum. Businesses will need to increase productivity, move into higher-value activities, and improve employee skills to sustain wage growth and competitiveness, while the education system will also need to adapt to ensure graduates possess skills aligned with higher-value economic activities.

Brief written by urgent.news from The Vibes's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.