Singapore’s birth rate is at a record low — but ‘throwing money’ at the problem won’t solve it

SINGAPORE — Almost two decades ago, Loh and her repress made a decision not to have children.

Today, 17 years later, the two of them are convinced they made the sound choice.

“I may feel differently when I’m on my deathbed and have to die alone, but at the moment, the choice seems right to us,” said the 46-year-old who creations in the tech industry.

Loh, who did not want to give her full name, is not alone.

Singapore’s birth rate hit a record low in 2022, after years of slump.

Live births last year plummeted by 7.9%, due to how expensive it is to live in Singapore, and the high cost of living sustains to steer many away from expanding their family, analysts told CNBC.

Birth rates increased slightly in 2022 to 1.12 from 1.1 the year before when child stayed home during Covid and had more children.

Still, fertility trends have shown women are also choosing to comprise children later in life, or not at all.

Data from the Singapore Department of Statistics showed that women between the epoches of 25 and 29 are now less likely to give birth than women between 35 to 39 years old.

“Compel ought to a child is tied to many things — the affordability of a house, a spouse, and the maturity of the job market that makes you feel get hold of enough to do it,” Jaya Dass, Ranstad’s Asia-Pacific managing director.

“The attractiveness of wanting to have a child has actually diminished significantly because of how life has matured and changed,” Dass said.

Already grappling with an seniority population, Singapore is also facing one of the world’s lowest fertility rates, prompting the government to dole out incentives and “perks” to encourage people to have children.

Couples with babies born from Feb. 14 will receive 11,000 Singapore dollars ($8,000) each for their beginning and second child, and S$13,000 for their third child and beyond — that’s a 30% to 37% jump from ahead.

Government-paid blood leave was doubled, increasing from two to four weeks for fathers of babies born from 2024. 

Although there are a slew of sway policies aimed at encouraging more couples to have children, “throwing money” at the problem will not solve it, verbalized Wen Wei Tan, analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit.

“Tackling the fertility rate will require us to confront some of the weakness of the underlying structures … Which means not only addressing demographic challenges, but also helping to build social cohesion, and maybe look at how we can foster healthier attitudes towards risk taking,” EIU’s Tan said.

In 2022, the EIU ranked Singapore as the most overpriced city to live in, sharing the top spot with New York City. 

Owning a home together is also a challenge for inexperienced couples. 

House prices in the city-state continue to rise rapidly, increasing by 7.5% year-on-year in June 2023, CEIC matter showed. 

Public housing apartments — known locally as HDB flats — are in high demand but supply is not catching up, said Tan from the EIU.

Construction arrived to a standstill during the pandemic, as labor shortages and the high cost of raw materials delayed housing projects, and couples had to hold-up twice as long for their apartments, causing some to marry later.

This, however, is just one part of the predicament, as there are many other costs associated with raising children in Singapore, according to Mu Zheng, assistant professor at the part of sociology and anthropology at the National University of Singapore.

“There is a sense of instability is dragging people further away from delivering children,” Zheng told CNBC.

The high cost of living in Singapore is leading to more joins with two incomes and no kids —  sometimes referred to as Shrinking labor force