Singapore recorded a fertility rate of 1.05 last year, the lowest it has ever been, dipping way below the 1.1 recorded in 2020. The matter was announced by Singapore’s Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Indranee Rajah on Friday (24 February 2023) during the PMO’s Committee of Supply debate in the Singapore Parliament.
As reported by CNA, Indranee asserted that the nation’s fertility rate has been declining for many years, a trend that many advanced societies in the world are also facing. For comparison, South Korea currently holds the world’s lowest fertility rate at only 0.78 last year.
In her speech, the Minister said that the current societal trends in Singapore see many residents postponing marriage. Furthermore, married couples are delaying having children or are having fewer children.
Indranee also noted that 2022 was the year of the Tiger in the Lunar calendar, which is generally associated with lower births among the Chinese. The same low fertility rate was observed in 2010, which was also a Tiger year, which recorded a fertility rate of 1.15, lower than the years before and after.
In case you didn’t know, the total fertility rate means the average number of live-births each woman would have during her reproductive years. For those wondering, the total fertility rate in Malaysia for the year 2022 has yet to be revealed. The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) revealed that our country’s fertility rate was the lowest in a decade in 2021 at 1.7.
So, what do you guys think of the low fertility rate in Singapore? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.
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