Penang is widening access to fertility treatment and strengthening support for young families as it moves to slow a falling birth rate, said state Social Development, Welfare and Non-Islamic Affairs Committee chairman Lim Siew Khim, who outlined the plan in an interview with Bernama.
Lim said the initiatives cover several areas at once: fertility treatment, affordable childcare, family-friendly workplaces, career flexibility and parental support. The aim is to ease the pressure that sits behind many couples’ decisions about having children.
Fertility work is already running through a partnership between the state government and the National Population and Family Development Board, known as LPPKN, under the Fertility Treatment Assistance and Infertility Advocacy Programme, or BuAI. Couples in Penang can get consultations, counselling, screening and treatment at the LPPKN Family Centre in Bertam, Kepala Batas, which also houses the Northern Zone Subfertility Centre.
BuAI also funds intrauterine insemination, or IUI, for eligible couples earning below RM10,000 a month. The funding covers a maximum of one cycle a year and two cycles in a lifetime.
The state effort sits inside a federal push that already names Penang. Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri listed Penang and Sarawak among the states needing greater focus under the national fertility drive, with wider fertility programmes planned through LPPKN (FMT). National fertility has slipped to 1.6 children per woman, well below the 2.1 replacement level at which a population holds steady.
On childcare, Lim said the state is working to regularise childcare centres, kindergartens and care facilities so that children are placed in registered, safe and quality premises.
A study run with Universiti Sains Malaysia, or USM, identified financial pressures and economic conditions as among the main factors shaping couples’ decisions to have children. “The cost of living, childcare and family commitments have led many couples to plan their families, limit the number of children they have or postpone parenthood because they are concerned about their ability to provide their children with the best possible life,” she said.
Lim said the state government has not set a specific target for the total fertility rate, because the effectiveness of its initiatives has to be assessed over the medium and long term. The immediate priority, she said, is to raise awareness, widen access to fertility screening and treatment, and collect data to evaluate how the programmes perform.
Department of Statistics Malaysia figures show Penang recorded 18,174 live births in 2024, down 7.2 per cent from 19,579 in 2023. Over the same period the crude birth rate fell from 11.0 to 10.1 per 1,000 population.
