Fears
of population fall give birth to push for more babies
South China Morning Post.
April 25, 2000
Agencies in SINGAPORE
THE government has convened a top-level committee to
encourage couples to have more children amid signs the native-born population
may start falling within decades.
The Straits Times reported yesterday that the panel was expected to complete its work by mid-June after it had consulted with various groups. These would include young people who are putting off having families and deciding to have fewer children.
The city-state's total fertility rate has been below the level needed for a population to replace itself since 1975, and a barrage of government-led campaigns and financial incentives to encourage more children has failed to produce a baby boom.
The current fertility rate is 1.48 children per woman.
Ironically, one of the reasons behind this shortfall is a past campaign to stop couples having more than two children.
The low fertility rate, together with the growing number of Singaporeans moving overseas or joining the ranks of senior citizens, has alarmed officials and planners.
The 11-member working committee studying the problem includes some of the republic's highest civil servants, the report said.
With a largely ethnic-Chinese population of just over three million, Singapore has to rely on more than 600,000 foreigners to meet its manpower and professional needs.
The government's target is a population of 5.5 million in 40 years, including locals and foreigners.
Demographer Saw Swee Hock told the Straits Times that if the fertility rate remained below replacement levels, the population would peak at 3.3 million in 2025 before declining.
He predicts that by 2065, the population would fall to 2.7 million people.
A public relations consultant married to a manager for seven years with no children and no plans of having any was not moved by the government's worries about the low fertility rate.
"Call us rotten apples or whatever, but I think people should be left to lead the lives they want," she was quoted as saying by the Straits Times.