KUALA LUMPUR: The number of live births in Malaysia for the third quarter of 2022 decreased by 3.0 per cent to 109,397 from 112,776 births recorded in the third quarter of 2021, according to the latest demographic statistics released by the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).

In a statement today, DOSM said male babies outnumbered female babies with 56,572 births as compared to female babies (52,825 births).

"Selangor recorded the highest live births with 22,260 births (20.3 per cent) while Labuan recorded the lowest with only 376 births (0.3 per cent)," it said.

Meanwhile, the statement also said that a total of 50,276 deaths was recorded in the third quarter of 2022, which is a decrease of 31.7 per cent as compared to the third quarter of last year (73,606 deaths), with the number of deaths recorded for males was 28,533 while females 21,743 deaths.

Selangor recorded the highest number of deaths with 7,744 deaths (15.4 per cent), while Putrajaya was the lowest with 58 deaths (0.1 per cent).

"Deaths due to COVID-19 decreased in the third quarter of 2022 to 597 from 21,104 in the third quarter of 2021. This contributed 1.2 per cent from the total number of deaths in the third quarter of 2022," it said.

The statement said Malaysia's population in the third quarter of 2022 was estimated at 32.9 million, an increase of 0.9 per cent from 32.6 million in the third quarter of 2021.

"The three states with the highest population are Selangor (21.6 per cent), followed by Johor (12.3 per cent) and Sabah (10.4 per cent).

"Males population increased from 17.1 million to 17.3 million as compared to the third quarter of 2021 while females increased from 15.5 million to 15.6 million in the same period. The sex ratio was 111 males per 100 females," it added.

-- BERNAMA