Jakarta –
Following similar news from South Korea recently, news of a sex recession, aka residents refusing to have children, has come from Singapore. Singapore scored an all-time low fertility rate of 1.05 in 2022. This is lower than the previous 2020 figure of 1.1 and 1.12 in 2021.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Indranee Rajah said this was partly due to the belief in the lunar calendar in the Year of the Tiger among the Chinese community.
“This is partly due to the year of the Tiger in the Chinese calendar, which is generally associated with lower births among the Chinese community,” said Indranee Rajah in Parliament, as quoted from Channel News AsiaSaturday (25/2/2023).
Indranee noted that the total fertility rate in his country has been declining over the years. This refers to the average number of live births each woman experiences over her reproductive years.
Causes of Declining Fertility Rates
Indranee revealed the possible cause of the ‘drop’ in fertility rates in Singapore. One of them is that more citizens in Singapore are delaying getting married.
“More couples are also delaying having children or having fewer children,” explained Indranee.
“This is in line with the trend of long-term global society. It also happens because people in Singapore are living longer,” he continued.
In Singapore, life expectancy at birth has increased to just over 83 years now. In addition, Singapore is finding it increasingly challenging to sustain economic growth as the population’s workforce grows more slowly.
“As family size shrinks, the need for care will also increase,” he said.
“More and more Singaporeans will face the double pressure of raising children while caring for their aging parents. And the fact is, it is already happening,” he continued.
Apart from that, in Singapore it is also difficult to get access to reliable childcare. This is very necessary for those who have just become parents to be able to care for babies.
“We will review how we can better support new parents in caring for their babies,” he added.
Watch Video “Population Declining in 60 Years, China’s Young Generation Reluctant to Have a Family“
(star/vyp)
