KUCHING: More mass marriage solemnisation programmes need to be organised to ease marriage procedures in Malaysia and indirectly help boost the declining birth rate in the country, Women, Family, and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri said.
Such events also benefited young couples, especially from an economic perspective, as they do not have to bear the high costs of weddings, she added.
“If they organise the ceremony themselves, whether in the mosque or at home, they have to pay for the rental of the space. So, we will see how the government can collaborate with the state religious authorities to help with organising more of such events, as hopefully, it can boost the population in Sarawak and, consequently, Malaysia,” she said after the Akad Semarak Ummah 2023 at Darul Hana Mosque here yesterday, Bernama reported.
According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia’s data released in October last year, the fertility rate in Malaysia has sharply declined over the past five decades, with the number of children per woman in 2022 being only 1.6 compared to 6.7 in 1957, making it the lowest rate ever recorded.
