October 23, 2024
PETALING JAYA – Higher incomes and good access to healthcare have helped Selangor become the state with the highest life expectancy in Malaysia.
Other factors that can also boost life expectancy are safer surroundings and better basic living conditions, said experts.
Selangor recorded a life expectancy at birth of 78 this year – the highest in the country, based on estimated data from the Statistics Department.
This is followed by Labuan (77.8 years) and Kuala Lumpur (76.2 years).
These three states surpassed Malaysia’s national life expectancy at birth of 75.2 years in 2024.
On why Selangor has the longest life expectancy, epidemiologist Datuk Dr Awang Bulgiba Awang Mahmud said the state has the second highest median income per capita after Kuala Lumpur, making its residents relatively better off than those in other states and able to afford better nutrition and healthcare.
“It also has better public and private healthcare facilities compared with other states.
“These two factors – higher incomes and good access to better healthcare – translate to higher life expectancy for Selangor,” he said.
However, demographer Chai Sen Tyng said it did not mean people in the state enjoyed extreme longevity.
“But perhaps more people in Selangor survive to older ages,” said Chai, who is a research officer at the Malaysian Research Institute on Ageing, Universiti Putra Malaysia.
He said cities and towns usually have longer life expectancy than rural areas.
“Less developed areas can also see rapid surges in life expectancy if basic living conditions improve or if there are fewer accidents, disease outbreaks or lives lost to disasters,” he said.
Will Malaysia’s life expectancy keep rising?
Overall, we can expect Malaysia’s life expectancy to keep increasing over the next 10 years, said Chai.
“Apart from a brief dip in life expectancy growth, the nation’s life expectancy has been improving because of better public health, a reduction in premature deaths and fewer deaths due to high-risk jobs,” he added.
Dr Awang Bulgiba said life expectancy was expected to have gradual gains over the next 10 years if the situation stays the same.
“This would be due to better economic conditions which should result in lower mortality rates, especially for infant and child mortality.
“However, these gains will be tempered by mortality and morbidity rises caused by non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
“This is a worrying trend which has been happening for some time,” he said.
Ageing nation status sped up
With life expectancy increasing in Malaysia, Dr Awang Bulgiba said this would definitely speed up our transition to ageing nation status.
“While one aspires to have a long life, it is important to age healthily and have a good quality of life.
“This requires support from caregivers, financial security and a holistic ageing ecosystem,” he said.
He said an ageing nation will put pressure on the old age dependency ratio.
“If this ratio gets worse, we will have fewer working age people to take care of an increasing number of the elderly,” he added.
On the other hand, Dr Awang Bulgiba said an ageing nation created opportunities for Malaysia to develop the silver economy (goods and services catering to people aged above 50) – something that we are only now starting to grow.
“Unlocking and monetising assets to raise funds for old age for example can be done via a reverse mortgage.
“The use of technology for assisted living and elderly care can help create jobs and spur innovation.
“Support systems like retirement homes, nursing and rehabilitative care can also create more jobs and enable people to age gracefully,” he said.
Chai said a longer expectancy meant the older population would increase too, given that more are surviving into older ages.
“But again, whether they are ageing healthily or sickly is another story.
“There are three factors in population ageing – fertility, mortality and migration.
“At this moment however, our key driving factor is our rapidly falling fertility rate,” he said.