SHAH ALAM, Nov 2 — The child-free movement shouldn’t be seen as a lifestyle as it is influenced by socio-economic factors and support for family institutions, said state executive councillor for women empowerment and welfare Anfaal Saari.
She added that rising living costs, lower homeownership and career demands are among such factors making young couples reluctant to have children.
“If we look into the root of the problem, the ‘child-free (lifestyle)’ is a symptom, not the cause. It could be more towards socio-economic, environmental and support ecosystem factors.
“Rising living costs and less flexible work hours could be among main indicators influencing young couples’ confidence in (starting) families,” she explained.
Anfaal urged focus on Selangor’s birth rate as it is among the bottom four states in Malaysia, with an average birth rate of 1.4, below the national rate of 1.6.
To address this, she said, the Family Life Cycle Intervention approach has been put to work, focusing on premarital, financial, reproductive health and parenting literacy.
“The state government recognises that (being child free) is a choice… so we want to strengthen family ecosystems and ease the structural burdens they face (so they start having kids),” she added.
Previously, Anfaal asserted that discussions about being child free should stop before it becomes a lifestyle among couples in Malaysia.
She said married couples must have two or more children to address the projected shrinking of Malaysia’s population by 2072, due to declining fertility rates since 2010.
Earlier, former religious affairs minister Datuk Mohd Na’im Mokhtar reportedly said people are choosing to be child free as they think kids are a burden, which he said is not in line with Prophet Muhammad’s ways.
