Trend Analysis of Under-Five Mortality Rate in Malaysia by Gender and States

Abstract

The mortality rate especially among children is a prime barometer of the overall status of a country. Malaysia has taken the initiative to reduce and remain the low mortality rate among children under-five as emphasized by United Nations in Sustainable Development Goal. This paper presented the trend of mortality rates among children under-five in Malaysia, using yearly national death data recorded from the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) from 1980 to 2018 across gender and sub-national unit (states). We used descriptive analysis and time series plot to observe the under-five mortality trend across gender, while the filled map function was used to examine the U5MR trend across states (sub-national unit) in Malaysia. As a result, we found a decreasing trend of U5MR for both male and female children across the years. Besides that, the mortality rate among male children was consistently higher compared to female children. Although the U5MR in Malaysia has shown a decreasing trend throughout the year, there was still a visible difference in U5MR across the states. Throughout the whole period of the study, the highest mortality rate was found in rural or underdeveloped states which were mainly on the East coast of the Peninsular and the Borneo part of Malaysia. This trend analysis can be used as a reference for the demographers and entitled legislator in Malaysia to draft a suitable policy to ensure the mortality rate among children can be reduced and achieve the thin gap of mortality rate across gender and states in comparison to the other developing countries. This study may also become a guideline for the health department to channel a practical approach focusing on the underdeveloped states to equally disperse Malaysia’s U5MR across the states in the near future.