SLICE
The Singapore Fertility Story
It’s our Year of the Family FERTILITY CONCERNS
issue and in line with the
theme, we track Singapore’s
“[Reaching a TFR of 1.4 or 1.5]
would mean that we have done
long-running often-covered
quite well. And we hope that
battle with fertility issues
in the longer term, of course
in this month’s Slice!
that we can get up to 2.1. But
Currently, Singapore has
looking at the environment
and what other countries and
one of the lowest fertility
cities are facing, that really
rates in the world, which
is a work-in-progress which
does not bode well for the
require a long time.”
survival of our nation and
“The core and most
our competitive edge.
“Unfortunately, despite our
efforts to promote marriage and
parenthood, our birth rates are
still too low…we must create a
pro-family environment which
gives families the confidence
and support to raise their
children.”
30 January 2014
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong
on Singapore’s total fertility
rate (TFR) slip in 2014 to 1.19
from 1.29 in 2012
fundamental thing…that
the government wants to
do in population policy is to
encourage Singaporeans to
marry and have children.
Singaporeans are the core of
society and the best and the
most fundamental way to build
a stronger Singaporean core
is to encourage marriage and
parenthood.”
21 January 2013
Deputy Prime Minister Teo
Chee Hean introduces the
enhanced S$2 billion Marriage
and Parenthood package
FEWER WORKING-AGE ADULTS
TO EACH CITIZEN ABOVE AGE 65
Citizen old-age support ratio, 1970-2013
Citizen aged
65 years & above Citizens in working-age band of 20-64 years
1970
=
1980
=
1990
=
2000
=
2012
=
5.9
2013
=
5.5
2030
=
13.5
11.4
10.4
8.4
2.1 (projected)
Source: Department of Statistics Singapore
SINGAPORE’S FERTILITY TIMELINE
Singapore’s Fertility Timeline
1960s The Family Planning and Population Board (FPPB) was
established in an effort to slow down the post-war population boom
and due to overcrowding concerns. In 1965, on average, a baby was
born every 11 minutes and the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) was about 4.6.
In 1966, Kandang Kerbau Hospital even earned a place in the Guinness
Book of World Records for “largest number of births in a single
maternity facility” – the staff there had delivered 39,835 babies.
One of the successful programmes the
FPPB implemented was the Stop at Two
programme, which encouraged parents
to just have two children and then get
sterilised. In 1969, the ruling government
targeted the programme at low-educated
and –income women in an effort to
solve social concerns and to encourage
the poor to concentrate their limited
resources on just a few children who
could potentially break out of the poverty
cycle and become productive citizens.
12
Family & Life • Jun 2014
1970s The TFR was
falling but was still a cause
of concern, so a slew
of disincentives were
introduced – maternity
hospitals charged higher
fees for each additional birth;
civil servants did not enjoy
paid maternity leave from the
third children onward; income
tax deductions only applied for
the first two children; etc.
Finally, in 1975, the TFR reached the ideal
replacement rate of 2. However, instead of hovering
at this level, the TFR continued its downward
descent in the years and decades to come – in 1977,
the rate dropped to 1.82. 1976 was the last year that
Singapore ever attained a TFR that was at or above
the replacement level.