KUALA LUMPUR - Get married and have babies. This advice to Malaysians was given by the National Population and Family Development Board to arrest the continuing decline in the fertility rate of the country.

The board expects the fertility rate to drop to 2.05 per cent in 2015 if more women opt to stay single and those who are married delay or do not want to have babies.

Board director-general Datuk AminahAbdulRahmanacknowledged that getting married and having children were matters of personal choice but the decline in fertility rate had becomeworrying and of deep concern for the government.

A 1995 survey had shown a fertility rate of 3.4 children per woman. Ten years later, the number had decreased to 2.4 children. In 2007, itwas 2.2 children.

“And this is mainly because of late marriages. The more you delay, the less your chances of having a baby. It’s a worldwide trend,” Aminah said after opening the Consultative Forum in Population Strategic Plan 2 here yesterday.

Because of this, she noted a growing trend of child adoption in the country.

The Women,Family and Community Development Ministry intends to have more premarital courses to help couples adjust to each other and teach them what to expect in a marriage.

It will also hold parenting courses together with non-governmental organisations.

Aminah, who met her counterpart from Norway at a conference two days ago, said the Norwegians had noted a similar trend in their country in the 1980s.

“When they noticed the low number of marriages and declining fertility rates, they introduced legislation to help women balance work and family life. When you legislate, people are compelled to follow.

“It took Norway some 40 years to do it but we don’t have to wait that long. All we have to do is to take the best practices from countries all over the world and learn from them.”

She said the declining fertility rate was more noticeable among the higher educated ones and working people.

Because of education, women were also finding it difficult to find a compatible partner.

They were forced to marry someone who was less educated or with lower qualifications. Some also married men younger than them.

Aminah said while women put off marriage because they were unable to find compatible partners, men say marriages are getting expensive.

“Why is it so expensive now to get married? Are dowries and wedding expenditure more important than the marriage itself?”