On birth rates and aging populations

If I recall properly, our birth rate slipped 0.2% in the last census. But it must be noted that a decreasing birth rate is not an issue just yet, especially since we first have to deal with an aging population.

Why is this a problem? Well, simple.

It means that the older generation lives longer, thus requiring more expenditure for welfare and the increasing cost of living, particularly medicine.

Subsequently, the aging population will then be dealing with the issue of their Employee Providence Fund (EPF) nest egg depleting before they die, which is already the case even now. I'm sure right now someone reading this from the EPF comes out and says, “I told you so”.

In addition to this, the workforce will notice more younger employees wanting to go up the corporate ladder being forced into switching companies to get ahead, whether they have the merit for such a promotion or not.

There will be resentment, accusations of disloyalty et cetera aplenty; but at the same time, you will also notice that most of these jumps are to address the want for more cash.

Why do these younger employees need more cash? Babies, the goods and services tax (GST), wanting to buy that new car or house or even sending a kid to college. Reasons are aplenty.

This creates a rather large, vicious and older cycle.

Sempai can't retire because he can't afford it, junior jumps to a different company which offers him more money, and the company ends up with no succession plan because of it and now, needs to find someone new to train up.

We all knew this was coming because anyone taking a cab could ask the driver what his last job was and why he went to work behind the wheel. Or at least, we would have known if we’d bothered to ask.

It doesn't help that the cost of living is so high for a family to sustain one child, let alone 7 to 12 like the booming 1970s Malaysian family. It also doesn't help that graduates are underpaid to the point of being unable to even make a living with enough surplus cash to start a family, let alone get a car which is now considered an amenity.

Which brings us to the 11th Malaysia Plan.

Now, how does a high income country encourage higher birth rates?

It doesn't.

In fact, the stress of chasing cash has been shown in America, Japan and even Australia, to reduce the birth rate. Though in Japan, some have said that their porn industry also affects it.

But herein lies a question: is Malaysia actually suffering from lower birth rates, or is it due to the fact that many children are not registered legally due to societal pressure?

Let us be frank. While legal births have been seen on the decline, news of baby dumping has since increased to the point of grisly details. We have plenty of kids not recognised by the state, many stories of babies found dead in toilets, toilet water tanks and even cut into pieces and thrown like yesterday's garbage.

And half the blame for this lies with society as well. We have decried religion to be the great saviour, yet allow those who have strayed no relief to the point of murdering newborns. Just a few years ago, Penang's mufti even went so far as to threaten excommunication from Islam.

Many things affect the birth rate, but honestly, addressing both economic and social issues which indirectly affect it needs more than just a press statement asking Malaysians to make more babies.

Sure, there will be the religious fringe families that insist “God will provide” for their multiple children, but more Malaysians hold to the belief that there needs to be a simpler and cheaper life before they think of procreating for the state and tax benefits.

Until then, one should read the Malaysia Plan and wonder what is in there to deal with an aging population that cannot cope with the cost of retiring, a pressured middle class that is finding it too expensive for procreating, and a society that is so religious that people would rather kill newborns by shoving them into schoolbags and toilets than face stigma. – May 26, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.