The lady/person in red polo shirt is so intelligent. Everything she says makes so much sense. Realistic and empathetic at the same time. What a brilliant person!
As an old man, born in 1946, I have experienced real poverty, (just after the World War) that not the present young generation experienced and appreciate. As to whether you want to have any children, think FOUR, FIVE or SIX times. Having a child is easy, raising a child is another issue. Do you want your child to grow up to my age, to clean the toilet like me to make a living? THINK carefully your money. Can you afford ? Talk is easy, do is difficult
Very sad truth. We as parents always worry about our children’s future and well being. It’s very tough. I have so many peers who are married without children by choice, right from the start.
If only more people your age have the same thinking as you. So many yap yap yap about wanting grandkids without thinking if it'll make life worse instead.
With the high cost of living, income inequality, relentless stress, and often toxic work culture, it’s no wonder that many Singaporeans feel hesitant about raising children. Government policies often come with restrictive regulations and strict eligibility criteria that fail to address the real struggles people face daily. Given all these issues, Singaporeans are making the right choice by focusing on their happiness rather than sacrificing their quality of life to follow the government’s call to have more children. Taking care of oneself in such challenging circumstances is not just sensible; it’s essential.
Nordic countries show us that even with excellent working and living conditions, there's no stopping to the declining birth rate in developed nations. This is just unavoidable and the only solution is immigration so far to prevent societal collapse. Thankfully Singapore is located in SEA which still has sustainable birth rate.
There is also the fact that our housing spaces are getting smaller and yet more expensive. Too many individuals that want to remain single and enjoy their lives, not willing to invest in a future generation.
@@hitthedeck4115 As a country becomes more educated the fertility rate will decline. This isn't just a developed nation issue anymore when we look at how developing Asia is facing a fertility crisis too. Thailand has the second lowest fertility rate in SEA and it is a developing nation. Bangladesh, one of the poorest nations in Asia, has a fertility rate of 1.95 which is below replacement level. The only reason they brought their fertility rate down is due to educating their people which allowed the government to teach their people about family planning, including contraception. So fertility decline isn't something can be avoided, it's going to happen. The goal should be to maintain a low fertility rate instead of letting it drop which is what's happening everywhere. If a nation can maintain a fertility rate of 1.9, still below replacement level, that would be good as opposed to letting it drop to below 1 which is what's happening in Singapore and South Korea.
housing and education are very expensive, in terms of monetary, time, and effort. having child is a heavy responsibility. progressive country like SG are emphasizing on individual success to bring honor to family. but it's rare for them to talk how the family itself will support individual that want to start a family with newborn child. People and the government need to start realizing that nurturing future generation is not individual responsibility, it's partly collective responsibility to provide a great environment to nurture the future generations.
Given the number of "million dollar" HDB news every now and then, how many "average" Singaporean family still dare to give birth? How many "average" Singaporean actually care about the declining birth rate when we struggle to even put food on our table?
We on the ground know the issues but the geniuses in government use this to justify their immigration policies and think the only issue is HDB. If they are able to tackle the fundamental issues of happiness, livelihood, inflation, then we will have kids. Don't get me wrong, it is not easy, but the 1st step is to want to genuinely address the problem, recognize it, recognize the failures, be open to suggestions and work towards Singaporeans' happiness. This is a country of people, not a company. And if it was a company, the government would have been fired many times over. This population problem has been known for decades. Did we not read about it in our population demographics geography lessons?
How is a million dollar HDB bad thing? People BTO and sell for a lot. If your income ceiling is too high to BTO then you’re not an average family anymore
ppl only complain the million dollar HDB when they are the buyer, when they become the seller, see if they complain anot. And the vast majority of singaporeans are not struggling to put food on our table, just look at how many singaporeans are eating HDL and cafes.
Million dollar HDB is intelligence tax. Why do you complain over it if you are never going to buy it ? Just go pity those folks who actually paid for it. Instead you should look at whether your money is worth the size that you want to buy. There are plenty out there that are not so expensive (BTO), you will only feel sian when you failed to secure something you cannot sell to get lottery effect. Resale wise look for sellers who are desperate to sell off due to regulations :) You can always try your luck in securing a EA via SBF. Better than 4D honestly just a $10 bet per quarter.
There is a reason that there is a low birth rate. I have a Singaporean HR person (female, no kids) and am currently pregnant. She told me "I can't understand why your pregnancy is so difficult." Reluctant to make me take leaves while suffering severe morning sickness. She also told me women in Singapore are "tough" since they could continue working even while experiencing bad symptoms. I can just imagine how understanding they are about women with children. Maybe a little compassion and sympathy for pregnant women would help?
THIS. More women are realising that pregnancy is really a "them" problem. It's always "oh but you had the choice to be pregnant", no empathy given to the mother. That's whats wrong with our "pragmatic" society. You think the gahmen don't know about those homeless staying at changi airport? They js dun care
As someone who manages a small organisation I definitely empathise my pregnant colleagues or those with young children. What irks me is when it comes to appraisal I need to give more credit to other staff who have taken on more work due to other staff being pregnant and taking more leave, the pregnant staff also want equal high score and bonus. How is that fair?
This is a global problem. Society is no longer set up for families. Both people need to work full time just to afford basic life necessities. Who has time and leftover funds for children?
No, the reality is that the luxuries of the past became today's "basic life necessities". Life was harder back in the days, but expectations were much lower. This is especially true for a country like Singapore, not long ago it was a poor fishermen village.
It's more of a government policies issues that created the mindset on the citizens than a "global problem". Singapore have crazy expectations for growth and competitive as mentioned in the clip.
I don't even have the job security to pay for housing, what makes you think I can afford kids? Government really naive to think these policies are enough
Because if you lack job security and financial stability *especially* after having kids, you're extra-forced to stay in the economy and continue to work. This is good for the country and the government's agenda. Policies aren't in place to make citizens' lives "easier". They're in place for the country's progress and prosperity.
@@wildpasta Your argument went full circle, genius. "Policies are in place for the country's progress and prosperity", but that in turn makes citizens' lifes a lot easier.
@@wildpasta the issue with your statement is assuming that a country and its citizens are 2 separate entities. What is a country if not the people it represents? A money making machine without care for its citizens is called a corporation, or a company. Not a country
The bottom line is this thing called “Quality of Life”. The system must allow people to have kids without much negative impact to their quality of lives.
It’s a crisis for the gov and the rich bcus they need people to 1. Work for them 2. Serve them 3. Take care of them so yeah. If you’re poor, you know where you belong. Having kids to continue to this cycle? Don’t worry there’s still plenty. Any kind of suffering ends with me, the end
It's also a crisis for the whole nation since it slowly loses the competitive edge over time due to stagnating economy (think Japan) and its future generations since they need to work harder to support the aging population (also think Japan).
@@wildpasta GDP is our life quality not a dumb number. Also, when you will be old or sick, if not your child, someone else's child is going to clean your butt and change your diaper.
I feel like the reasoning on why we need kids is to support the againg population. To me it feels like a generational burden at this point. Maybe we all suffer a bit and let the suffering end in our generation instead of passing it to our unborn children thus continuing the curse
No you're right. Other people who try to convince you to have children is just doing so because 1) misery loves company and 2) they don't want their children to have to carry the weight in a future where the population is smaller. They don't care about your own good. You have to care and look out for yourself! And the govt just wants to ensure future taxpayers, GDP-contributors and like you said, people to support the aging population. This is a problem for the govt to fix. Not just its citizens.
Thats why she is a 'part time teacher'. Real teachers 1) Would not have the time to even walk around getting interviewed. 2) Would not be dumb enough to say yes to an interview since its against certain guidelines.
i don't usually comment but people in this comment thread are pulling out personal attacks for no reason. shouldn't we just focus on the content of their answers? that aside, i think the person in question was the realest out of everyone interviewed and provided a very real perspective a lot of us in the design and arts field have. i would love to know what about their statements was so out of touch with the current very nuanced situation.
Broadly, Parents want to give their children a better life than what they had experienced - generally, the goal for most parents. But we've come to a (tipping) point where our children's future is looking to be more bleak than what we have now. Houses are getting smaller, competition is still ever increasing.
Competition is ALWAYS a choice. I have 20 nephew niece - U prepare 20 chicken drumstick = zero competition. 20 nephew niece PLUS neighborhood extra 10 kids = competition. Question - food for 20 own kids enough right? Why open door to extra 10 children? It's not like...I have extra chicken drumstick! I dont have!
My lates 30-40s colleagues in my workplace are those who make more than enough money to support more children, but are simply too busy to spend time with them. Like my boss lady, Im guessing hers and her husband salary is like minimum 5digits each per month, but must balance super hard to be there for their child, time and emotion wise. On the other side, there are those that have time, but just not enough income to even think of that. There are way too many things at play lol, I'm dating my 2 yrs bf now and still feel like enjoying our dating life for a few more years. Can't even imagine changing to another phase. You get more time to build your own life, figuring out yourself, more money to enjoy and focus on yourself, adulting is like a "me time" now and no a lot of ppl willing to let that go.
@@moemoe12647 Yes, you are so right? Because people in underdeveloped countries across the world, we see couples having a lot of children. You can see them playing near garbage dumps open sewages railway lines road platforms and mega slums in the cities. Somehow they don't seem to have a demographic problem. Those countries are well insulated with millions of more starving, poor children that will grow up poor and can be used for anything ranging from working in factories for low wages to enrolling in armies to fight wars or taking care of old people may be rich old people doing service to them. I think all countries should have the same system. It really works. What do you think.
@@koiguidenishikigoi4972 When you get richer, you'll realise that the population usually stagnates because of 2 things - lower mortality rate and basic necessities. The reason why underdeveloped countries have higher birth rates is also because they have a higher infant mortality rate. In Singapore, only around 2 babies die from 1000 births. However, in Rwanda, it's 22 per 1000. This means they need to produce more offspring in case one dies in the process (sad but it is reality) which allows them to keep the 2.0 birth mark. Second reason is basic necessities. You can't expect 2 people to work the whole day to put food on the table and still have the opportunity to take their kids to school, bring them back from school and then be able to take care of that kid. You will 100% need help. If I have 4563 (this is median in SG) dollars and I need to give 20% to the government for safe keeping and then still pay my bills, mortage etc AND add a kid on top of that, I wouldn't have enough money. This is usually because as the country gets developed, the population boom from the 1st point actually hurts them as they suddenly have an increase demand for basic necessities. Imagine if you have 200000 births in a year and half die and then suddenly in 5 years you STILL have 200000 births a year but you suddenly have only 1000 deaths a year. You will see a spike for things like food, baby diapers etc etc, which increases the price of everything ~> then you will see people stop having kids to balance this out.
I think another point I would like to add is that, some couples generally have a hard time conceiving. And this becomes a sad and sensitive issue whenever they're being asked "When are you having a child?" Sometimes they just don't want to tell the truth and would simply say that they're not ready - just to end the conversation quicker. So ultimately, society should just stop questioning couples, and put the pressure on the government instead to give more support for couples to manage the high cost of living in raising a child in Singapore.
Why is it over? In many countries in the world, (when you're earning the local wage) it's not possible to support a family of 4 on 1 person's wage. Some people even have to work 2 jobs.
@@RaiunHana 50 years ago, 1 income can feed 4 mouths or even more. That's why the BR is going down, no one wants their children to cuuck-slaave away their lives to have nothing to show for so that the rich can get richer and exploit them for profits. People want to have kids, just not in places that HATE them and treat them like cuuck-slaaves. Eat the bugs, live in pods, own nth, be happy - WEF Klaus Schwab
Ya.. who gonna take care if both parents need to work and commute? Nowadays overtime is extremely common. On the other hand.. child care centres said must apply 4-5 months in advance. Applying newborn to child care now also like waiting for job offers (dunno will accept or reject) see got vacancy enough or not.. Tio bo? Its like a waiting game. Then people say easy ask maid take care. Last time NS people laugh maid helping us. Then now comes to raising child ask maid. LOL. Stupid right? I have an uncle who runs a maid agency.. mostly quit and have cases abusing the child when parents at work. He said the maid is really stressed taking of their child from morning until night... parents come home from work late at night only to relax. Their job is assist in household not become child care teachers.
As an old man, I am sharing my life time experience for the younger generation to comprehend and digest. Remember a proverb : "LOVE VANISHED WHEN HUNGER KNOCKS AT A DOOR" I HAVE GONE THROUGH MANY UPS AND DOWNS, FINANCIAL CRISE IN 1972 - THE ENERGY CRISIS, 1983 AND SO ON SO FORTH. Nowadays, don't expect any more iron rice bowl. Be realistic!
I moved out of Singapore this year after 4 years. It’s not a place to start a family, the amount of greed everywhere is too high. Jobs are average as well (compared to Europe) and startups are well, not that innovative.
For startups businesses to become successful, proportionally, most that make it come from a big to medium size country. Most from a tiny country like Singapore wouldn't make it easily, unless you have full government backing. Where are all the VC funds going to come from to invest in Singapore home grown companies. Stock market capitalization is too small.
@@s._3560 SG got Temasek that sponsor some ideas that have potential for growth although, as you mentioned, the market is simply too small. On top of that, Southeast Asian market is too fragmented for a company to scale well compared to other regions.
Despite our declining birth rate and aging population, our population actually recently hit a high of 6 million so I’m gonna go on a hot take and say that we actually need to reduce our population so I would actually encourage more people whether it’s local citizens or expats to leave Singapore otherwise we will be overpopulated. I would encourage Singaporeans to look to life outside of Singapore, yes I know it’s not easy and many Singaporeans like to stay in their comfort zone but because we’ve all only got one life, we should get out there to explore and expand our horizons instead of being trapped in this Singapore bubble.
PAP going for 10m population leh, born and bred here Singaporeans already a minority, now SG became foreigner land, with them draining the country's resources till there is nothing left then off to the next opportunity elsewhere. Only money talks here, and increasing PAP's coffers.
That's not how you do it since you'll be left with a higher percentage of old people. A more aging population means that the productive part of society needs to work harder, which you want to avoid in the first place.
@@fion3943 that’s why I tell all my foreign friends Singapore isn’t a country, it’s a corporation. The Singapore identity, the kampong spirit is as good as going to be extinct. But anyway since I’ve travelled abroad a couple of times, my perspectives have opened up and I just can’t see myself living and working in Singapore in the long term (I will only come back to visit friends and family but other than that, I’ve got no other reasons for wanting to return).
People are not having children because of high opportunity cost esp for women. There needs to be a shift in mindset and culture to respect and support mothers by giving longer paid maternity leaves without risk of losing her career. For e.g. in canada, we have paid maternity leave for 12mo - 18mo. Mothers are also protected by employment law to ensure they will not be discriminated or dismissed by her company. I feel sad for the children in singapore as they often are away from their parents for long hours every day since a young age, being cared for by instituitionalized care (daycare, after school care) which will never measure up to caregiving by their own parents. This will create attachment issue making our kids less resilient. There are things that shouldnt be outsourced. Unfortunately, the government will never encourage longer paid maternity leave or for one parent to be a stay at home parent since this would undermine the competitiveness of the country with half the workforce of reproductive age staying home to focus on child rearing or on maternity leave.
Well said, I got terminated for no reason after returning from my 2nd 2-month maternity break even though I had made it a point to return to work two months after giving birth to help the company and only went on the 2nd break when my baby was 7 months old. All the government-linked agencies like MOM, TAFEP and TADM could only say that there was nothing wrong with my company as they had paid 1 month salary in lieu of notice which they have the right to do so as per my employment contract and that's even with appeal from an MP and our dear ex-PM L who said they will write to MOM to get them to investigate on the matter. At the end of the day, all I received from TADM was, if I would like recourse, "please file with the Small Claims Tribunal". Who would have the time to pursue this matter with the SCT when one's most pressing needs is to secure another source of income to pay for your baby's milk powder, diapers, infant care fees etc. Even with the new unemployment support that they plan to roll out next year, $6k support over a course of 6 months is simply a joke. At $1k per month while still having to attend courses and what not, it's not even enough for 1 person much less a family.
I have a big boss who doesn't prefer newly married women working on projects despite them being capable, just because the worry that they'll get pregnant ... Smh
Well said. I also feel like our government and society just doesn't really support women who want to raise children themselves, which is most ideal for the child.
@ this is a competitive world, if u can’t give them the best they will only be miserable in the future. Giving birth just for the sake of the population is just stupid imo
@@darinherrick9224 What's wrong with there being no world? After you die, would you have any problem if there is no world? We're all slaves here, anyway.
Our forefathers and mothers decided to have children because they believe they can give us the best they can AFFORD. Not having the best doesn't mean that life will be miserable. I happen to think it makes one more driven, resilient and innovative, having come from a less than ideal background.
@@bsd1158 well, and it's ok if "some" asians people are happy like that. In addition, we can say that those behaviors are generated by our modern consumer societies, so nothing special about that, it's logical :) One reaps what one sows...
Me as Asian (Filipino-Chinese), we want to establish like, everything we had to stable without worrying, so our belief was we wanted to experience life between poor or rich life difference, and we feel like we want to experience like having a privileged life, despite of everything was expensive in different countries, and yes, it hard to maintain honestly, especially if you're not stable financially, and start have own family, for us it's very burden and challenging sometimes, despite of highest cost
Average Singaporean here. Just had my first child. Honestly I would love a second but high cost and also my wife's age are the 2 main factors stopping me from having a second.
Just try for second one. I have 4 kids when I still renting flat from HDB. Now I have a bigger house. Kids will push your limits. If I have no kids I think I still stay in HDB.😂
After experiencing the Singapore grind, some feel it is not fair to raise a child only to have them suffer a similar outcome. Child rearing are now just numbers for the capitalist workforce, even the interviewers inadvertently link children with economy. Made more evident by the immigration policies rather than to create a more holistic environment.
Having children are expensive, take a lot of effort and time. Not to mention for the sandwiched class, we have to provide for our elderly parents who have no savings and our children as well as save up for our own retirement. Add job insecurity due to rampant retrenchment and foreign "talents" influx crowding out jobs, it can be a bleak working condition in the future.
I think for young people it looks like a daunting task to get married and start a family. I myself was overwhelmed by the expectations especially when I'm the eldest child in my family. My plans were to take one step at a time and it didnt go beyond having children tbh. My two children are now in sec school and it is not easy raising and supporting them. Every stage of their lives are a challenge for us. There's no parenting handbook and we have to read up books and material from the internet. Plus it's not something we can give up half way. Life isnt always a bed of roses for sure, there are ups and downs. We have to think twice when it comes down to finances. Other than that there are the pressure from expectations. People expect parents to be role models and what not. I mean we are human beings too. For me I think the commitment must be there but when it comes to our country's population we have to first put food on our table before we could think of such issue. End of the day it really depends on how our country will want to commit themselves into helping its citizens start a family and have children. It cannot be a one time handout for sure. It must be a long term commitment like what we give to our children. The talk about the issue has always been there and giving out citizenship seems like quick fix. So the question is what if the people stop coming? What's next? (PS: our new pm doesnt even have a child, how to talk to citizens about having more babies? The family policy maker who is a single lady isnt even married. How would she know about the struggles of married couples? Pls lead by example for Sgp sake. Don't just tell people what to do.)
Having children is a very important part of life experience. I feel people who never had children and look after them wouldn't understand the struggle of bringing up kids. As a parent of 2, I too wonder how politicians unmarried or without children can fully identify or understand all these challenges faced by the nation in this present day. It is a big crisis and one in which they just keep implementing short term & short sighted solutions that only exacerbate the existing problems.
You have a single second finance minister, you have a Prime Minister/Finance Minister who does not have children. You think they know how to apportion money and tax subsidy for families? They will just follow a bunch of academic papers, and not really experiencing the truth of the research and resolving the problem. And if you have policymakers who are not able to empathise with childrearing, how to design and create policies that engender a sustainable population? Correction: One of the Second Finance Minister has 4 children. We will come to regret in 20 years, when the whole world has an ageing population, we will run out of people to import. As for those people who think they want a career, good for you. While you and your husband slog away at your job, the maid in your condo (that you're slogging for) is the Mistress of the House, enjoying the fruits of your labour and time with your children.
Exactly, the maid in the house is enjoying life but somehow Asian boss ran a previous video insinuating that they are slaves. They can’t be more wrong.
Yes, many a maid lounges by the condo pool on their mobile phones pretending to care for the kids. Some have picnics with other neighbors' maid in the park on weekdays when they are meant to walk the dog but don't, tying the poor dog to the post while they gossip.
Any regular person who has basic understanding of math can sit down to list and break down the cost of living from getting a decent education, getting a home and maintaining a job and just basic necessities. The amount you will come up to is staggering. My income is sgd3500 after cpf and I single also have very little left over after the usual giving parents money, food and savings. The people earn less than me I feel even worse.
Likely a fund management problem or something else. 3500 after CPF is decently sufficient for you to accumulate quite alot of savings. Unless you are giving too much to your parents (usually max 10%), with the assumption that they are still working. And no other weird complications (Health problems). Education in Singapore is dirt cheap if you plan properly. E.g Overload your semester with 8-9 modules and you should graduate half the time required (You pay per semester, earlier graduate lesser money) but you probably have no Life (CCA, Friends etc) during the period. See what your goals are and plan accordingly. As I have no age information, I can only assume you are 20-30s.
@Magurosenbei I'm 42. My parents are retired. I consider myself quite lucky with my salary and situation in SG. I'm quite healthy but with some blood pressure and cholesterol issues and meds. I have a good chunk of savings and am single. I own my hdb having fully paid it off. I'm not that financially savvy to be involved in investments so my focus is simply on saving more since I entered working life. Being financially prudent all my life is still quite a stressful thing. Everything is more expensive nowadays and it's very hard to say if even the savings I have would be enough to retire comfortably. I just try to not be overly stressed about it and enjoy life now as much as I can in my own way. I do feel for people who are less fortunate than me. I just think if i am like this then it's really rough if your income is lower than mine.
No, she tried to signal to cut the recording because she said something that was not very sharp about foreigners coming in and getting Singaporean citizenship forgetting where she is from in the first place. I think it struck her a little bit later.
I think the thing with birth rate is showing symptoms and not root cause. Generally speaking, fertility is decreasing, it has direct relations to stress. Many people want kids but are not able to have kids. If you look at the data, you'd notice that the poorer the country, the higher the birthrate. I have no idea why, but I highly doubt that it is purely a matter of wanting or not wanting. It's not like you have sex and you immediately have a baby.
This topic is something you can write an entire essay about and still not have enough space to complete your argument. So I'm going to embarrass myself and write a long essay for those who got nothing better to do than to read the comments for the kicks. It isn't a perfect argument meant for the scholars or general paper, but just for kicks myself. The issue we are facing is the same one every developed society is facing. It doesn't matter whether it is across the pond or this side of the pond. Even if you go back in time, it is the same thing. History often repeats itself. Every time society gets more developed, the ruling class will start opening the workforce to women. What happens when the supply of labour is doubled? The cost of labour is halved. So both parents need to work to raise a family. Now that is IF they want to raise a family. The starting pay for a fresh graduate 20 year ago and now isn't that far apart, but oh boy look at the price of everything. Another thing that happens as women enter the workforce is that society as a whole becomes more open and inclusive. This is not necessarily a bad thing at the start, but it evolves into something bad later on. Being too open and inclusive means society starts to accept behaviors that were once against the norms. Some examples are same sex marriage. Also, as women start to understand the feeling of having their own money to spend, they start to want careers of their own. Every one knows women are the most fertile between 18 (16 actually but when was the last time you've seen a girl married at 16?) and 25. (news flash, girls are starting to menstruate earlier these days so this age range may already be pushed forward, I'm not a doctor so I don't know for sure) This age is generally where a woman can give birth to healthy babies without medical intervention. But as women start wanting careers, they start delaying childbirth due to FOMO. By the time they are ready to settle and have kids, they are in their late twenties or early thirties. Some already hit late thirties by the time they listen to their body clock. You get where I'm going with this for this point. Now let's move on. Another thing is that as a country develops, everybody wants a piece of the pie. Businesses start to raise their prices while trying as long as they can to maintain salaries. This goes back to the point I made earlier, starting salaries haven't changed much in 20 years but prices have risen way more. Soon it comes to a point where everything is more expensive than what 60-70% of the native population can afford. They start having bigger issues to worry about than population issues. "If I can't even put food on the table, why care about silver population? I'm more worried about next month's rent!" For those sectors that consistently have higher average salaries, one thing is that they are often the sectors that have the brightest minds and require the most commitment. Finance, Legal and IT have high salaries. But does anyone not realize that Finance, Legal and IT also have long working hours? Not just that, it is common in Finance, Legal and IT to be on call 24/7. What else is common in these sectors? Quick fire. Lay offs are dime a dozen. Profits drop 1%? Pack your things. Of course I'm exaggerating but not as much as you'd imagine. Technology also plays a role in this. How many of us can sincerely say they can live in a Singapore stuck in the 1980s and survive? When was the last time you made it through our hottest months without aircon? When was the last time you went our with your neighbours to play catching because that that was the only entertainment you had? Technology made people soft. Families could survive on rice and beans in the 1960s. But we must have rice and meat and eggs these days. Technology also isolates us. When you can get everything done online, there's no need to leave the house to interact with people. So some people literally are too socially awkward to find a spouse to procreate with. Now we also have to see the ruling class. The new PM is childless. That's a worrying sign. I would assume he has the final say after listening to advice from his cabinet, but his stance will always be from a perspective of a childless person. Would you take dating or relationship advice from someone who has never married? Then again, the previous government didn't succeed in bringing up the birth rate either. So let's not be too harsh on him when he hasn't even got the chance to warm his new seat. After all, the outgoing PM had kids but still got the birth rate to drop to 0.97. This new one came in only to have this statistic fall onto his lap. A fresh perspective may just do the trick. Who knows, maybe his perspective of a childless person allows him to understand why people don't want kids. I personally think handouts won't solve anything. Prices of necessities have to be artificially lowered for families with children. More time off needs to be given at expense of the government. Taxes need to be raised. Our advantage may be reduced, but our country doesn't need to win a race to the bottom in terms of taxes. Our strategic advantage is our highly sophisticated workforce. As for immigration, yes, immigration can solve some of the issues. The old are burdening our society, both financially and manpower wise. If we are not having enough kids, more adults are needed to take care of these people and also pay the taxes needed to sustain the government support for these people. I do not mean disrespect to our older generation. Heck my parents are in that generation, but this is just reality. These adults coming in to support our older generation will not have families of their own. Hopefully they will consider settling down here and have children here. That kills 2 birds with one stone no? We get manpower and taxes to support our older folks, and also kids to replenish the population in future. Anyway I've said my piece. Just had to get that out. Ready to get roasted by fellow keyboard warriors. Cheers.
Haha I felt the need to add on. Just for kicks too. :) Conservative values on marriage and children - couples have to married to have children - delays the procreation process. Many couples in the nordic countries, NZ, australia have children but they are not married. And when they do, it could as simple as a vow taking ceremony in the garden. Here, unmarried couples with children would be judged quite severely. Some couples are expected to spend lots of money on that nice wedding - adding to their financial burden. While there are still more educated men than women, the educated women have higher qualifications than men. This leads to 2 things: (i) being able to find an equal partner and (ii) the need to re-distribute the caregiving burden. While both men and women may prefer a equally educated spouse, the men would probably also be ok with a lower educated one while the women would not. Women would then need more time to find that spouse. Women are often the ones expected to carry the caregiving burden - even if they are the more educated or more financially stable. Who would seriously want that? Maybe tradwives. hahaha. The changing physical landscape and educational priorities have shifted that sense of joy in the moment to a stressful plan-for-a-stable-future moment. Swimming lessons used to be what happens when you jump into that polluted longkang and learn to float, now they've got real coaches in real swimming pools. Games were playing ball with the neighbours in nearby open field. Again, we've got professional coaches for these too. School was where we meet friends and copy homework. Now, school is that nice shiny building where we have to ace the various subjects so that we can have a bright future.
I read through your entire comment and agree wholeheartedly with it, even the part where the old are becoming a burden. Born in the 1980s, I live in a HDB in the East a stone's throw away from the beach. Never had air con in my house at all but still alive and kicking. For someone who works mainly from home my 5 room flat bill is about $128 per month for 3 adults max. I calculate my expenses and income to the T and live minimally. When my dad had to go to a nursing home, it was so difficult to try and get in a government run/subsidised nursing home that the volunteer from AIC just told us to go to the cheapest private nursing home, LC, which cost well over 2,500 per month just for one elderly. Eventually I had to settle for a caregiver which was a lot cheaper. Within 6 months I blown 15k excluding medication. As an only child with no help from friends or relatives, it was a huge blow to my pocket. And don't get me started on how, when I had to call an ambulance, we always wind up at Raffles Hospital A&E now instead of CGH. I paid over $330 a day, totalling $1.2k because he had to stay 4 days there. The financial/education quality of the early immigrants might also have played a part. When combined with the 养儿防老 mentality leading to high monetary demands from children, and the lack of financial literacy/ability in that and/or subsequent generations, can play a big role in why many in the sandwich class are suffering. The bottom line is governments are not able to make the rich pay their dues, but sometimes releasing too much money into the economy can make inflation even worse. A statement I read from China Observer says it best IMO: For society to maintain its stable operation, 80% of the population must remain in perpetual poverty. This is because the majority of people are driven by suffering. Why do you work? Do you work because you love it? No, you work because you need money. Therefore, money can only motivate those who lack it. It cannot motivate those who already possess it. Thus, to propel society forward we must ensure that 80% of the population remains impoverished. They will neither have enough to eat nor the ability to escape, yet they will continue to toil on the brink of collapse.
It is also about economic. Back then was a farming society, baby are deem as asset. Becos they provide manpower. Nowadays, baby are deem as burden. There is no asset value. Yes singapore literacy level is high. That is y everyone know what to do.
In today's world, there isn't an urgent need to increase the population; we are not in a crisis that demands it. Historically, we've seen population booms after periods of intense hardship, like world wars. After these crises, the world experiences a sense of relief and renewed optimism, leading to a surge in births as people feel secure enough to invest in future generations. But in the current climate of relative peace and stability, we don’t see that same drive. When we examine historical population trends, we notice significant growth following major conflicts. As peace returns, people feel a renewed sense of happiness and security, which inspires them to start or expand families. But today, in a world without the constant reminder of insecurity and instability, this instinct isn’t triggered as strongly. In a sense, experiencing and then overcoming global fears can heighten the joy people feel in peaceful times. It’s a contrast effect-after facing the hardships of war, people tend to appreciate and invest in peace more deeply. While we may not actually wish for crises to spur growth, it’s an interesting reflection on human nature and how we respond to challenges.
In capitalism, every year needs to grow (infinite); once growth stops, the game is over. Most people would favor self-development over family growth. When people think of develop a family usually near retirement, given nowadays Mass Layoff is a things, naturally people will feel insecure no matter how well they did. But nowadays many country start to realize they need better worker protection in order to balance growth and family growth, but often avoid the real cause and proceed to immigration, If the root cause yet to solve everything will be the same.
Nordic countries show that you can't cure, or reverse, a declining birth rate with better working and living condition. Only immigration is the solution so far.
Out of curiosity, I did some quick Googling of SG birth rates in the last 10 years. While it's true that there's been a steady decline since 2014, especially in 2020 and 2021 (due to pandemic, I presume), there was a healthy bounce back in 2022 and 2023 before it dips low again in 2024. If I have to guess, to echo the sentiments of the people in the video, the economy is the biggest culprit here. What's happening in SG (inflation, rising living costs, stagnant wages) is happening all over the world, but since SG is so small, the effects of those things are magnified tenfold, it seems. So much so, that it affects the birth rates. I'm optimistic that once the economy gets better and people find their finances to be viable to start a family, they would do so. There are many negative sentiments being said about Singaporeans, but I do believe they still have a lot of heart, and having a family remains the goal for many of them. And I'm sure the SG government being the frighteningly efficient and extraordinarily rich entity that it is, they'd come up with various initiatives and programs that will support its civilians to reproduce. So, yeah. Give it 2-3 years, I would say. I hope things will get better for SG!
It's becoming way too expensive to raise a child in Singapore and continue to enjoy the same quality of life. Other factors include having enough time to spend with the child to make sure they grow up well instead of outsourcing parenting to external caregivers.
1. Movies and Dramas constantly revolve around rich people and their luxurious lifestyles. Makes youth desire financial success - travelling on business class, wearing designer clothes, living in a luxurious tiny apartment. Children are a financial strain, for sure. So they cut out the child entirely. 2. Telling girls that they should dream about becoming a CEO, entrepreneur, doctor, lawyer -- but don't be a housewife. Dream big! Being a mother and a wife is repressive. Build your career first! That's what girls are told. So they feel ashamed if their dream is to become a wife and dedicated mother. 3. In previous generations, people used to start work at 16-18 years old. By the time they were 28, they would have had enough savings and time to focus on their family. Now, we only start work at 24-28 years old. By the time we are financially ready for children, we are biologically too old. Bring back apprenticeships so people can reduce the length of school years and start building their career at a younger age.
that’s why western countries where trades and apprenticeships are valued more unlike asia are faring better in birth rates and quality of life, people can get good wages that are competitive with their peers who have higher education and start a family since they are preparing for the careers at a younger age.
previous generation anyhow give birth to a football team without caring about finances, next gen suffers poverty , lesson learnt . Do not settle for less or not suffer same fate as parents.We learnt it the hard way. and also you need to reach a certain level in career to be financially adequate to start a family... love also not easy to find, dating takes time what if u invest on the wrong person... takes more time , reach 30s prime is over , just be single at that point.
Don't forget senior prime minister, LKY once does not encourage to have 2 or more children. That's why orchard road is full of hooligans from neighbouring countries.
When you look at it from a macro view, adults who choose to have kids now are bringing the kids into a punishing environment because these kids will grow up to support a super large group of aging population. It’s actually unfair to the new parents too that they have to bear the high cost of raising the kid and their kids next time have to support other old people m
The teacher being so out of touch with the demographic reality truly speaks to the declining quality of our education system and our cynical mistrust of academia. If push comes to shove, the only pragmatic solution for the lack of human capital in the impending decades is for Singapore to open its doors to foreigners to fill the unoccupied positions. But they can't do so in a reckless manner or they'll risk destroying the country's social fabric, like with what we're witnessing in Europe. Most people aren't thinking about how their existing actions will affect future generations because most people's priorities are about survival and caring for their own livelihood. But with a problem like declining birth rates, you won't feel the effects of it until it's too late. This is why mitigation is so important. The paradox of declining birth rates and economic prosperity is observable in virtually every first-world country. As a population becomes more educated and the standard of living increases, we see less couples choosing to have kids. People start to prioritize their careers over childbearing as life expectancies grow, and this encourages couples to delay starting a family even further. The grandma is right about entertainment's influence on how young people choose to operate. During her generation, there weren't nearly as many distractions to occupy time. We now have an infinite number of other things that we can do instead of following the linear path. It's both a blessing and a curse. Marriage has fallen out of favor largely because of the modern dating market. Before we had the Internet, people were forced to date within their immediate communities because that was the full extent of their dating pool. Now, people think they have infinite options thanks to dating apps, so there's much less of an incentive to lock down with one person when there's a possibility that someone better could come along. I vehemently disagree with the notion that we "don't need relationships" and are able to grow independently. Man is a social animal. We crave human connection, both platonically and romantically. We aren't built to live reclusive lives. This is partially why so many people in our generation are reporting depression/anxiety symptoms. People shouldn't be coerced into having children, but the notion that society should pivot from viewing childbearing as a duty is callous and dangerous. If our collective goal is to preserve humanity, we should aspire to having kids instead of prioritizing our own individual desires first. Otherwise, we will reap what we sow. For women, it would be ideal to have kids before 30 because of potential fertility issues, but men have a lot more leeway in this regard. Marriage is also becoming increasingly delayed, as reflected in the stats.
Yeah Mate. I complete agree with all you stated. I can tell you that people are really out of touch with the real situation. Growing up I used to see and hear of many women having babies when in my country we had 2.5-2.0 birth rate. now it has gone to 1.48 And we can point out many situations unthinkable 30 years ago like a hospital in a big city of 450 thousand missing a whole week without any birth (city is also has oldest population in Brazil).
We're barely managing to sustain ourselves, how can we afford to have kids 😅. Housing prices are already through the roof, salaries haven't kept up, and inflation is skyrocketing. Essentials are getting more expensive, while luxury goods are dropping in price since people can't afford them anymore. Honestly, I would love to have kids if I had the time, could afford it, and had a single income that could fully support the family. The families with many kids I know seem to be the ones with high-paying jobs, like my bosses
Exactly. It's the only east asian country unlike china japan and Korea that isnt concerned about the birth rate. It's the same for the west. Spain actually has the lowest birth rate yet we hardly see the news report on it
...without being responsible for it (actually rolling up sleeve and "elbow grease" to sort the issue). They simply came to rot dot and added their situation and deplete our reserves. OUR PARENTS, OUR blood and sweat. and who let them in?
Think the prople interviewed here are quite wise and well-thought on the consequences. Besides big stress of living in Sg, and everything needs money here. It is not like we own large farmland, need many ppl. even our flats are so tiny. I think even single salary, with some parents to feed, is tough already, not to mention additional mouths and if later need to buy house and car some more. Jobs are hard to find, and uncertain also. People who prefer fur kids, at least they can help relax the mind, seeing and having to deal with too many people just makes one crazy.
No one dare to admit its mainly about cultural shift. Peoples more and more individualistic. High living cost are only excuse. I dont want to trade my carreer and hobbies for children.
finally someone says it! Imo it's not economic factors, but a shift in mentality: ●Some people still simply don't want children, just like in the past. (Maybe some are LGBT?) But today, the pressure is gone. So they truly stay childless. In the past, such people still had children because of social pressure. ●Women are still the main carer, and are expected to return to work soon after, and raise a baby while working full-time. At work, the woman is supposed to pretend she isn't tired and her body isn't signalling her to rest. Rinse repeat that 2~3 times for more children? Like a robot? No thank you! Give me 3yrs of time with the baby. Age 0~3 is crucial, and the mom shouldn't have to go back to work at all! ●The tight community is gone. If you as the mother want to have a bit of freetime and not having to take care of the kid 24/7, you will need to pay for every single hour that the kid is away from you. No village to help you raise it. No free babysitting. My mom had free babysitting in the 80s/90s for all her 3 kids. ●Cheating still exists, and since there is no village to help you, you as the mother truly are left alone if you and your husband seperate. In the past, my grandmother had 5 kids and her husband cheated on her so often and eventually left her. But the village was there for her, and they helped her. She wasn't alone. ●Some people don't want to go through pregnancy, but would be ok with having a kid. I am one of them. Adoption is out of the question for me, I am sorry. But if they invented incubators and let us pay for growing babies in incubators and give them to us, I would be willing to pay up to 40000$ per such delivery. I just find the thought of going through pregnancy extremely dreadful.
@abhaykothari3000 The world is not overpopulated. It’s crazy that people would just say that and not adress the issues of wealth inequality, consumerism, waste, lack of recycling, planned obsolescence and so much more !
A lot of comments already talked about not wanting children to suffer, one type of suffering specific to SG is not talked about: national service for men. I don't want to risk having a son grow up to waste their time suffering for mandatory service, not just 2 + 10 years, but ongoing depression and mental health problems along with permanent physical injuries. SG is a country that sees people as resources and not humans.
Some context such as a plot of the cost of living / housing cost change over the years plus the birth rate stats might be helpful to see the correlation. There are several interviewers think not being able to support the younger generation is the source of the birth rate decline.
Singapore's population issue is not a numerical one, but a structural one. If you can't increase the bottom, you can also remove the top. Many don't think this through, but longevity is also one contributing factor. Imagine a working population having to support the retired generation across 50 years against one that is across 20 years.
The thing is, just like the US, the biggest advantage Singapore has is it can use immigration to off set the shortfall. There is no shortage of people wanting to immigrate to Singapore, US, or other western countries.
I would suggest the govt relook at GST. To give you an example Sweden has 25% VAT but their birth rates are much higher. Thats because all baby essentials enjoy zero VAT. Perhaps Sg should do so too. Anyway the GST is for government tax input, there is no sense in collecting and then formulating plans to dish out freebies, how much more admin work is involved. Or you can implement stacked discount schemes one child 10%, second child 12%, third child 15%
No marriage or job security in extreme cut throat society. Intense competition from people all over the world for jobs in all payscale level. Extremely expensive small housing and cars. One of the most exoensive place to live in the world. Intense competition in shrinking schools, university places. No safety net or welfare provided. Massage shops abound and cheap $50 free lancers from all over the world everywhere hence men don't see any need to commit to marriage & family.Even a government whose message to their people is:" Nobody owes you a living!!". Under such harsh uncertain economic circumstances, will any young person wish to procreate?
Please la getting married in Singapore is like a double edge sword lol. Many many people are getting divorce in Singapore because of 1 main reason MONEY. Just let that sink in about the price to pay BTO how long to wait? Education fees expensive, working 6 days a week where got time and more and more.
I believe that economic factors is actually almost a non-factor. I think that Singaporeans do not want kids because of a cultural shift towards individualism and focus on happiness within oneself. Having kids has become a huge risk that threatens the individual's projection of life and there is no guarantee of happiness with kids. I agree with the elder ladies that times are different now. In the past, many people may want kids because of lack of sex education and financial literacy, they see kids as a symbol of hope in dark times (WW1/2), societal pressures from everyone having kids, or simply because they were bored. Non of these are factors in today's world, and there isn't any external or practical reasons to have kids. The reason to have kids has to come from within yourself, and yet it is difficult to truly see the benefits before having one. No amount of pressure from anyone can convince the general population to have kids anymore. I think the Singapore government needs a change in approach. People need to be convinced that having kids is an obvious net positive in their lives. There needs to be more education on how kids can enrich one's individual life on a day to day. Singaporeans must be trained to think "kids makes my life better". On top of this there must be clear directives on how Singaporeans can minimize the downsides of having kids. Improving the economical welfare for Singaporeans is only one step of the way. Singaporeans need to see that having kids will improve their lives, and now they just don't see it, and truthfully neither do I.
There's no room for failure here. And humans just don't make babies in a stressful, high-pressure environment like that. If we lived on countryside farms and realised we had lots of free time every day, the idea of having more children would definitely come up because we know we have the time and money to spare for it. Now, Singapore can't become a countryside farm state, no doubt, but it's through this comparison we can see that Singapore's rapid expansion of the economy but forgetting to adjust everything else has caused this. Struggling to keep up financially just to survive, to dream of affording our own houses one day... this isn't a life. And come on, no one is going to pump out babies " to fulfil our civic duty for the sake of the country". Why would we care about that if it comes at our own expense? Children aren't investments.
If you want a kid, be responsible for the kid, else don’t have one. It’s a choice, not an easy one and unfortunately one where the difficulties are only really known later. Life is dynamic, anything can happen, but you need to be a responsible parent regardless of future circumstances. Don’t expect anyone to help. Life is getting harder. Housing and food is getting so much more expensive. Youngsters and kids at cafes….are they spending their own money? Is it sustainable? Or it’s an occasional indulgence. Do they represent the majority? Housing is expensive now. You will probably earn when you sell. But is it that simple? Where will you stay after that? How do you get into the game in the 1st place? Are such prices good for Singapore as a society? Does everyone have rich parents to help with their property down payment? Is your reality real? Do you really know what’s happening to society as a whole? Do you notice the usual people ordering food at hawkers centres and coffee shops ordering less? Are MPs cleaning hawker centre tables real? Releasing more COE when the available numbers are an integral part of the scheme? Great for now but what does it show? Nice tall modern buildings? Doesn’t it simply take money to build? MRT breakdowns and fixes. Simply go debacle. Oxley…future provides more options? Ermmmm….wow….huh? What a genius perspective. Huge financial losses. The list goes on. My enthusiasm died with the old guards lol
I cant disclose which NTUC-Income I rubbed shoulders with, told a staff "曾经爱过新加坡" nervous laughter from her, means....SHE UNDERSTAND! There was genuine love. The policies betray ....now brace to handle consequences aka "enthusiasm died".
Working remotely definitely help to raise kids right after uni. Lucky no office in Singapore. Heard with the 5 days office workweek transition is a nightmare for those raising children.
having kids is fun tho.. rising kids is not that exhausting.. they will drain your energy until they reach 10 years then they will help a lot.. my younger brother have 6 kids the older only 10 yo he help looking for his sibling when his father going outside dating with his mom
For some reason I actually think about the birth rate issue (or more aptly put, phenomena) a lot as I find that birth rate is one indicator of how healthy a society is. Because imagine if a troop of wild monkeys stop breeding all of a sudden. Wouldn't that be seen as very unnatural? Giving birth is also an act that brings life into society. Also, I find that a child's unbridled laughter is one of the most beautiful things - if laughter is the best medicine, a child's laughter would be an elixir, perhaps. I think in Singapore while we're generally a decently affluent bunch, could it be said that we lack the human zest? Few of us starve yet we worry so much about other issues - our statuses, comparisons, etc. No wars, no natural disasters, our problems are no longer physical but mental. Our expectations for what a citizen should be have simply become too high. On Reddit & HWZ you'd even find people lambasting poorer families for having many children. I actually think the Chinese and Indians can learn from the Malays in the aspect of their more laidback & 'in-the-present' traits. The latter's community suicide rates (which I find to be the polar opposite of birth rates for it represents the act of taking away a life from the world) are actually much, much lower than the former two. Their family cohesion tend to be much stronger, they tend to be more religious (yes, we're a secular society, but I believe religious families tend to have more children), and while they may be less affluent as a whole, they have this 'it's gonna all work out' mindset which I believe is propped by both family support & religion. If you go to East Coast Park at weekend nights, it's largely Malay families who have set up tents, barbecuing food together, singing songs, playing - which I always found a beautiful sight - they are truly living! And there's also the rise of women's education, a shift in gender roles, rising cost of living, a shift from collectivism to individualism and more liberal values. Women no longer need men, or actually, nobody really needs anyone anymore as long as you have good education (which leads to good salary). Painting of house, chores, meals - you can get them outsourced to foreign labour at a cheap cost. These days you can even pay for companionship, be it from rent-a-date websites, Thai discos, and so on. Our devices too provide a constant source of stimulation, reducing one's need and desire to socialise. Also, don't forget the dating apps which have taken over large spheres of the dating scene and are profit-driven, incentivised not to truly have couples marry, but have parties stay on the app as long as possible. But yeah, I guess given that other cities like Tokyo & Seoul also face this issue to the same extent, it's also likely that it's a fast city problem. Crowded, competitive, women's education, capitalism, so on, and these societal forces act on individuals who either decide that it's A) either not worth it to have children anymore or B) have no confidence in doing so. Hahah sorry I knew I had a lot to say on this but didn't expect to ramble that much. Just some of my thoughts though. This I feel is a very interesting issue/phenomena.
Actually, I don't want to blame Singaporean in Asian Boss, but it's really true that it's pretty easy for Singaporean to get a family home compared to people in other countries. envy.
Girl in black says you need to be lucky to earn 6k. She didnt know our median pay is actually almost 6k. That means half of the country is earning 6k or more!
I don't think government really care on this matter, since singapore migrant policy is so flexible as long you have money to show your welcome from all over the globe to get citizenship since singapore population is decreasing
nobody mentioned this. 2 generations ago, 3 generations under 1 roof was common and the grandparents played central roles in caregiving of the kids. Nowadays, grandparents don't live under the same roof, so they re logistically less available. The modern grandparents themselves also want to have their personal time , hobbies and be independent unlike in the past. They don't feel obliged like 2-3 generations ago, about the care of grandchildren. With grandparents no longer the default primary support caregivers, parents have less support, and need to rely more on domestic helper and childcare centres. This is an added factor. / if you go back even more to the past, in the kampong days, caregiving was a community effort, your neighbours and extended families not just grandparents. / It takes a village to raise a child. It's the loss of our kampung spirit (communal support). It's not about the money. That's why 12KSGD salary will not make you wanna have more kids. it's hard to raise kids, as only a couple, even with a domestic helper.
![F.HERO Ft. JSPKK x ลำไย ไหทองคำ x M-PEE - ไม่สนิทบิดหมด (Thai Riders Anthem) [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kPJZ0UihBfk/mqdefault.jpg)
The lady/person in red polo shirt is so intelligent. Everything she says makes so much sense. Realistic and empathetic at the same time. What a brilliant person!
Agreed! 😢
So? Intelligent and be childless? Women like you will know what it means to be forced once again soon.
As an old man, born in 1946, I have experienced real poverty, (just after the World War) that not the present young generation experienced and appreciate. As to whether you want to have any children, think FOUR, FIVE or SIX times. Having a child is easy, raising a child is another issue. Do you want your child to grow up to my age, to clean the toilet like me to make a living? THINK carefully your money. Can you afford ? Talk is easy, do is difficult
Well said old man.
Old man with the wise words
Very sad truth. We as parents always worry about our children’s future and well being. It’s very tough. I have so many peers who are married without children by choice, right from the start.
If only more older generation can think like you
If only more people your age have the same thinking as you. So many yap yap yap about wanting grandkids without thinking if it'll make life worse instead.
With the high cost of living, income inequality, relentless stress, and often toxic work culture, it’s no wonder that many Singaporeans feel hesitant about raising children. Government policies often come with restrictive regulations and strict eligibility criteria that fail to address the real struggles people face daily. Given all these issues, Singaporeans are making the right choice by focusing on their happiness rather than sacrificing their quality of life to follow the government’s call to have more children. Taking care of oneself in such challenging circumstances is not just sensible; it’s essential.
Nordic countries show us that even with excellent working and living conditions, there's no stopping to the declining birth rate in developed nations. This is just unavoidable and the only solution is immigration so far to prevent societal collapse. Thankfully Singapore is located in SEA which still has sustainable birth rate.
There is also the fact that our housing spaces are getting smaller and yet more expensive.
Too many individuals that want to remain single and enjoy their lives, not willing to invest in a future generation.
@@hitthedeck4115 As a country becomes more educated the fertility rate will decline. This isn't just a developed nation issue anymore when we look at how developing Asia is facing a fertility crisis too. Thailand has the second lowest fertility rate in SEA and it is a developing nation. Bangladesh, one of the poorest nations in Asia, has a fertility rate of 1.95 which is below replacement level. The only reason they brought their fertility rate down is due to educating their people which allowed the government to teach their people about family planning, including contraception. So fertility decline isn't something can be avoided, it's going to happen. The goal should be to maintain a low fertility rate instead of letting it drop which is what's happening everywhere. If a nation can maintain a fertility rate of 1.9, still below replacement level, that would be good as opposed to letting it drop to below 1 which is what's happening in Singapore and South Korea.
😂😂😂 loser mentality! Your parents era also not easy!
housing and education are very expensive, in terms of monetary, time, and effort. having child is a heavy responsibility. progressive country like SG are emphasizing on individual success to bring honor to family. but it's rare for them to talk how the family itself will support individual that want to start a family with newborn child. People and the government need to start realizing that nurturing future generation is not individual responsibility, it's partly collective responsibility to provide a great environment to nurture the future generations.
Given the number of "million dollar" HDB news every now and then, how many "average" Singaporean family still dare to give birth? How many "average" Singaporean actually care about the declining birth rate when we struggle to even put food on our table?
We on the ground know the issues but the geniuses in government use this to justify their immigration policies and think the only issue is HDB. If they are able to tackle the fundamental issues of happiness, livelihood, inflation, then we will have kids.
Don't get me wrong, it is not easy, but the 1st step is to want to genuinely address the problem, recognize it, recognize the failures, be open to suggestions and work towards Singaporeans' happiness. This is a country of people, not a company. And if it was a company, the government would have been fired many times over.
This population problem has been known for decades. Did we not read about it in our population demographics geography lessons?
How is a million dollar HDB bad thing? People BTO and sell for a lot. If your income ceiling is too high to BTO then you’re not an average family anymore
ppl only complain the million dollar HDB when they are the buyer, when they become the seller, see if they complain anot. And the vast majority of singaporeans are not struggling to put food on our table, just look at how many singaporeans are eating HDL and cafes.
Literally it's the average sinkies giving birth without thinking. Heck the crushing financials, they just want a "miNi mE rUnNiNg aRoUnD".
Million dollar HDB is intelligence tax. Why do you complain over it if you are never going to buy it ? Just go pity those folks who actually paid for it. Instead you should look at whether your money is worth the size that you want to buy. There are plenty out there that are not so expensive (BTO), you will only feel sian when you failed to secure something you cannot sell to get lottery effect. Resale wise look for sellers who are desperate to sell off due to regulations :) You can always try your luck in securing a EA via SBF. Better than 4D honestly just a $10 bet per quarter.
There is a reason that there is a low birth rate. I have a Singaporean HR person (female, no kids) and am currently pregnant. She told me "I can't understand why your pregnancy is so difficult." Reluctant to make me take leaves while suffering severe morning sickness. She also told me women in Singapore are "tough" since they could continue working even while experiencing bad symptoms. I can just imagine how understanding they are about women with children. Maybe a little compassion and sympathy for pregnant women would help?
found the malay 🤭🤭
Your hr person is such a bitter person.
THIS. More women are realising that pregnancy is really a "them" problem. It's always "oh but you had the choice to be pregnant", no empathy given to the mother. That's whats wrong with our "pragmatic" society. You think the gahmen don't know about those homeless staying at changi airport? They js dun care
As someone who manages a small organisation I definitely empathise my pregnant colleagues or those with young children. What irks me is when it comes to appraisal I need to give more credit to other staff who have taken on more work due to other staff being pregnant and taking more leave, the pregnant staff also want equal high score and bonus. How is that fair?
Your hr lady is contributing to toxic work culture.
This is a global problem. Society is no longer set up for families. Both people need to work full time just to afford basic life necessities. Who has time and leftover funds for children?
No, the reality is that the luxuries of the past became today's "basic life necessities". Life was harder back in the days, but expectations were much lower. This is especially true for a country like Singapore, not long ago it was a poor fishermen village.
It's more of a government policies issues that created the mindset on the citizens than a "global problem". Singapore have crazy expectations for growth and competitive as mentioned in the clip.
I don't even have the job security to pay for housing, what makes you think I can afford kids? Government really naive to think these policies are enough
Because if you lack job security and financial stability *especially* after having kids, you're extra-forced to stay in the economy and continue to work. This is good for the country and the government's agenda.
Policies aren't in place to make citizens' lives "easier". They're in place for the country's progress and prosperity.
@@wildpasta Hence the issue. Your point is another story.
@@wildpasta Your argument went full circle, genius. "Policies are in place for the country's progress and prosperity", but that in turn makes citizens' lifes a lot easier.
@@wildpasta the issue with your statement is assuming that a country and its citizens are 2 separate entities.
What is a country if not the people it represents? A money making machine without care for its citizens is called a corporation, or a company. Not a country
The bottom line is this thing called “Quality of Life”. The system must allow people to have kids without much negative impact to their quality of lives.
It’s a crisis for the gov and the rich bcus they need people to
1. Work for them
2. Serve them
3. Take care of them
so yeah. If you’re poor, you know where you belong. Having kids to continue to this cycle? Don’t worry there’s still plenty. Any kind of suffering ends with me, the end
Finally someone said it. Wish I could super-like this.
Children are basically future tax-payers and future GDP-contributors.
Such insightful words the rich needs average citizen to work for the billionaires so they can continue their empire and dominance
It's also a crisis for the whole nation since it slowly loses the competitive edge over time due to stagnating economy (think Japan) and its future generations since they need to work harder to support the aging population (also think Japan).
That's the point.without them economies die@@wildpasta
@@wildpasta GDP is our life quality not a dumb number. Also, when you will be old or sick, if not your child, someone else's child is going to clean your butt and change your diaper.
I feel like the reasoning on why we need kids is to support the againg population. To me it feels like a generational burden at this point. Maybe we all suffer a bit and let the suffering end in our generation instead of passing it to our unborn children thus continuing the curse
Yes agreed. Otherwise the cycle keeps going on and on. When will it stop ? It is not sustainable. More humans more waste only harming the environment.
No you're right.
Other people who try to convince you to have children is just doing so because 1) misery loves company and 2) they don't want their children to have to carry the weight in a future where the population is smaller. They don't care about your own good. You have to care and look out for yourself!
And the govt just wants to ensure future taxpayers, GDP-contributors and like you said, people to support the aging population. This is a problem for the govt to fix. Not just its citizens.
why would a loving parent bring a child into this harsh world today?
Very thoughtful answers. Ironic, but common, how the "teacher" is the most out of touch.
She is worried about olds and not worried about the country without younger generation😂
Thats why she is a 'part time teacher'. Real teachers 1) Would not have the time to even walk around getting interviewed. 2) Would not be dumb enough to say yes to an interview since its against certain guidelines.
Teacher? Part time? Oh come on… like how all housewives are also marketing directors? 😂😂😂
Real teachers wouldn’t have so many piercings and nose ring.
i don't usually comment but people in this comment thread are pulling out personal attacks for no reason. shouldn't we just focus on the content of their answers? that aside, i think the person in question was the realest out of everyone interviewed and provided a very real perspective a lot of us in the design and arts field have. i would love to know what about their statements was so out of touch with the current very nuanced situation.
Broadly, Parents want to give their children a better life than what they had experienced - generally, the goal for most parents. But we've come to a (tipping) point where our children's future is looking to be more bleak than what we have now. Houses are getting smaller, competition is still ever increasing.
Competition is ALWAYS a choice.
I have 20 nephew niece - U prepare 20 chicken drumstick = zero competition.
20 nephew niece PLUS neighborhood extra 10 kids = competition. Question - food for 20 own kids enough right?
Why open door to extra 10 children? It's not like...I have extra chicken drumstick! I dont have!
My lates 30-40s colleagues in my workplace are those who make more than enough money to support more children, but are simply too busy to spend time with them. Like my boss lady, Im guessing hers and her husband salary is like minimum 5digits each per month, but must balance super hard to be there for their child, time and emotion wise.
On the other side, there are those that have time, but just not enough income to even think of that.
There are way too many things at play lol, I'm dating my 2 yrs bf now and still feel like enjoying our dating life for a few more years. Can't even imagine changing to another phase. You get more time to build your own life, figuring out yourself, more money to enjoy and focus on yourself, adulting is like a "me time" now and no a lot of ppl willing to let that go.
7:47 the lady on the green made me choke on my drink, that was completely out of pocket 😭
*Singaporean lady ;)
She completely got down on it and went ham lmao
@@OvenBakedCookie my bad gang, I'll just take it out of the sentence
@@Nick-pc9tf Fr tho 😂😭
she was trying to show us how she hawk tuahed
As much as I want to raise a kid .. financially is hard and I don't want another human being to suffer
You are very wise
Only people from developed countries think like this
@@moemoe12647 yes, because people in developing country mostly dont care if their offspring suffer
@@moemoe12647 Yes, you are so right? Because people in underdeveloped countries across the world, we see couples having a lot of children. You can see them playing near garbage dumps open sewages railway lines road platforms and mega slums in the cities. Somehow they don't seem to have a demographic problem. Those countries are well insulated with millions of more starving, poor children that will grow up poor and can be used for anything ranging from working in factories for low wages to enrolling in armies to fight wars or taking care of old people may be rich old people doing service to them. I think all countries should have the same system. It really works. What do you think.
@@koiguidenishikigoi4972 When you get richer, you'll realise that the population usually stagnates because of 2 things - lower mortality rate and basic necessities. The reason why underdeveloped countries have higher birth rates is also because they have a higher infant mortality rate. In Singapore, only around 2 babies die from 1000 births. However, in Rwanda, it's 22 per 1000. This means they need to produce more offspring in case one dies in the process (sad but it is reality) which allows them to keep the 2.0 birth mark.
Second reason is basic necessities. You can't expect 2 people to work the whole day to put food on the table and still have the opportunity to take their kids to school, bring them back from school and then be able to take care of that kid. You will 100% need help. If I have 4563 (this is median in SG) dollars and I need to give 20% to the government for safe keeping and then still pay my bills, mortage etc AND add a kid on top of that, I wouldn't have enough money.
This is usually because as the country gets developed, the population boom from the 1st point actually hurts them as they suddenly have an increase demand for basic necessities. Imagine if you have 200000 births in a year and half die and then suddenly in 5 years you STILL have 200000 births a year but you suddenly have only 1000 deaths a year. You will see a spike for things like food, baby diapers etc etc, which increases the price of everything ~> then you will see people stop having kids to balance this out.
I think another point I would like to add is that, some couples generally have a hard time conceiving. And this becomes a sad and sensitive issue whenever they're being asked "When are you having a child?" Sometimes they just don't want to tell the truth and would simply say that they're not ready - just to end the conversation quicker.
So ultimately, society should just stop questioning couples, and put the pressure on the government instead to give more support for couples to manage the high cost of living in raising a child in Singapore.
If 1 income can't support a family of 4, it's over.
Why is it over? In many countries in the world, (when you're earning the local wage) it's not possible to support a family of 4 on 1 person's wage. Some people even have to work 2 jobs.
@@RaiunHana 50 years ago, 1 income can feed 4 mouths or even more. That's why the BR is going down, no one wants their children to cuuck-slaave away their lives to have nothing to show for so that the rich can get richer and exploit them for profits.
People want to have kids, just not in places that HATE them and treat them like cuuck-slaaves.
Eat the bugs, live in pods, own nth, be happy - WEF Klaus Schwab
Reply blocked? It's over
7:46 WHAT IS HAPPENINGGG 💀💀💀
Promoting the glook glook 3000
She's casting magic.
Aunty is tweaking 😂
0:55 "career-driven" or "family-driven" I hope the soceity can go towards a direction that allow people to handle both with relatively ease
2 seperate path Choose one??ordinary career and have children to look after you when you aged or fantastic career and single for life.
If you listen carefully in their comments, they actually don't mind having kids but they just couldn't.
Ya.. who gonna take care if both parents need to work and commute? Nowadays overtime is extremely common.
On the other hand.. child care centres said must apply 4-5 months in advance. Applying newborn to child care now also like waiting for job offers (dunno will accept or reject) see got vacancy enough or not.. Tio bo? Its like a waiting game.
Then people say easy ask maid take care. Last time NS people laugh maid helping us. Then now comes to raising child ask maid. LOL. Stupid right? I have an uncle who runs a maid agency.. mostly quit and have cases abusing the child when parents at work. He said the maid is really stressed taking of their child from morning until night... parents come home from work late at night only to relax. Their job is assist in household not become child care teachers.
As an old man, I am sharing my life time experience for the younger generation to comprehend and digest. Remember a proverb : "LOVE VANISHED WHEN HUNGER KNOCKS AT A DOOR" I HAVE GONE THROUGH MANY UPS AND DOWNS, FINANCIAL CRISE IN 1972 - THE ENERGY CRISIS, 1983 AND SO ON SO FORTH. Nowadays, don't expect any more iron rice bowl. Be realistic!
I moved out of Singapore this year after 4 years. It’s not a place to start a family, the amount of greed everywhere is too high. Jobs are average as well (compared to Europe) and startups are well, not that innovative.
Coming from a Singaporean here, thank you for speaking the truth!
@@wildpasta singapore is still good to store your wealth. And work overseas
I heard inflation is going down though which is good which means by 2025 everything will be back to normal
For startups businesses to become successful, proportionally, most that make it come from a big to medium size country. Most from a tiny country like Singapore wouldn't make it easily, unless you have full government backing. Where are all the VC funds going to come from to invest in Singapore home grown companies. Stock market capitalization is too small.
@@s._3560 SG got Temasek that sponsor some ideas that have potential for growth although, as you mentioned, the market is simply too small. On top of that, Southeast Asian market is too fragmented for a company to scale well compared to other regions.
Despite our declining birth rate and aging population, our population actually recently hit a high of 6 million so I’m gonna go on a hot take and say that we actually need to reduce our population so I would actually encourage more people whether it’s local citizens or expats to leave Singapore otherwise we will be overpopulated. I would encourage Singaporeans to look to life outside of Singapore, yes I know it’s not easy and many Singaporeans like to stay in their comfort zone but because we’ve all only got one life, we should get out there to explore and expand our horizons instead of being trapped in this Singapore bubble.
The high population is because too many governments are importing too many foreigners
PAP going for 10m population leh, born and bred here Singaporeans already a minority, now SG became foreigner land, with them draining the country's resources till there is nothing left then off to the next opportunity elsewhere. Only money talks here, and increasing PAP's coffers.
That's not how you do it since you'll be left with a higher percentage of old people. A more aging population means that the productive part of society needs to work harder, which you want to avoid in the first place.
@ well it won’t matter cause I will be one of the people who wants to leave Singapore anyway
@@fion3943 that’s why I tell all my foreign friends Singapore isn’t a country, it’s a corporation. The Singapore identity, the kampong spirit is as good as going to be extinct. But anyway since I’ve travelled abroad a couple of times, my perspectives have opened up and I just can’t see myself living and working in Singapore in the long term (I will only come back to visit friends and family but other than that, I’ve got no other reasons for wanting to return).
People are not having children because of high opportunity cost esp for women. There needs to be a shift in mindset and culture to respect and support mothers by giving longer paid maternity leaves without risk of losing her career. For e.g. in canada, we have paid maternity leave for 12mo - 18mo. Mothers are also protected by employment law to ensure they will not be discriminated or dismissed by her company.
I feel sad for the children in singapore as they often are away from their parents for long hours every day since a young age, being cared for by instituitionalized care (daycare, after school care) which will never measure up to caregiving by their own parents. This will create attachment issue making our kids less resilient. There are things that shouldnt be outsourced.
Unfortunately, the government will never encourage longer paid maternity leave or for one parent to be a stay at home parent since this would undermine the competitiveness of the country with half the workforce of reproductive age staying home to focus on child rearing or on maternity leave.
Well said, I got terminated for no reason after returning from my 2nd 2-month maternity break even though I had made it a point to return to work two months after giving birth to help the company and only went on the 2nd break when my baby was 7 months old. All the government-linked agencies like MOM, TAFEP and TADM could only say that there was nothing wrong with my company as they had paid 1 month salary in lieu of notice which they have the right to do so as per my employment contract and that's even with appeal from an MP and our dear ex-PM L who said they will write to MOM to get them to investigate on the matter. At the end of the day, all I received from TADM was, if I would like recourse, "please file with the Small Claims Tribunal".
Who would have the time to pursue this matter with the SCT when one's most pressing needs is to secure another source of income to pay for your baby's milk powder, diapers, infant care fees etc.
Even with the new unemployment support that they plan to roll out next year, $6k support over a course of 6 months is simply a joke. At $1k per month while still having to attend courses and what not, it's not even enough for 1 person much less a family.
I have a big boss who doesn't prefer newly married women working on projects despite them being capable, just because the worry that they'll get pregnant ... Smh
Well said. I also feel like our government and society just doesn't really support women who want to raise children themselves, which is most ideal for the child.
Why would u want to have children if you can’t make sure to give them the best
Because without having kids there is no world.
@@darinherrick9224 Then let there be no world, we humans are the poison to this very earth.
@ this is a competitive world, if u can’t give them the best they will only be miserable in the future. Giving birth just for the sake of the population is just stupid imo
@@darinherrick9224 What's wrong with there being no world? After you die, would you have any problem if there is no world?
We're all slaves here, anyway.
Our forefathers and mothers decided to have children because they believe they can give us the best they can AFFORD. Not having the best doesn't mean that life will be miserable. I happen to think it makes one more driven, resilient and innovative, having come from a less than ideal background.
Offer us a better, safe, pleasant world and people will naturally have more kids.
Not true, most young asians couldn't care less about family in general. They want the money, status, followers and other superficial stuff first.
@@bsd1158 well, and it's ok if "some" asians people are happy like that. In addition, we can say that those behaviors are generated by our modern consumer societies, so nothing special about that, it's logical :)
One reaps what one sows...
Me as Asian (Filipino-Chinese), we want to establish like, everything we had to stable without worrying, so our belief was we wanted to experience life between poor or rich life difference, and we feel like we want to experience like having a privileged life, despite of everything was expensive in different countries, and yes, it hard to maintain honestly, especially if you're not stable financially, and start have own family, for us it's very burden and challenging sometimes, despite of highest cost
I hope they address the weather issue in Parliament 😂
They still monitoring
Average Singaporean here. Just had my first child. Honestly I would love a second but high cost and also my wife's age are the 2 main factors stopping me from having a second.
Just try for second one. I have 4 kids when I still renting flat from HDB. Now I have a bigger house. Kids will push your limits. If I have no kids I think I still stay in HDB.😂
After experiencing the Singapore grind, some feel it is not fair to raise a child only to have them suffer a similar outcome.
Child rearing are now just numbers for the capitalist workforce, even the interviewers inadvertently link children with economy.
Made more evident by the immigration policies rather than to create a more holistic environment.
Last time a HDB room can fit two kids. Now a room fit one kid. Go figure.
It's hard to have a vested interest in Singapore when its own government is selling the country out(CECA, NOL, NTUC, Temasek etc).
This.
Absolutely.
Having children are expensive, take a lot of effort and time. Not to mention for the sandwiched class, we have to provide for our elderly parents who have no savings and our children as well as save up for our own retirement.
Add job insecurity due to rampant retrenchment and foreign "talents" influx crowding out jobs, it can be a bleak working condition in the future.
Having a child is a rich flex at this point
I think for young people it looks like a daunting task to get married and start a family. I myself was overwhelmed by the expectations especially when I'm the eldest child in my family. My plans were to take one step at a time and it didnt go beyond having children tbh. My two children are now in sec school and it is not easy raising and supporting them. Every stage of their lives are a challenge for us. There's no parenting handbook and we have to read up books and material from the internet. Plus it's not something we can give up half way. Life isnt always a bed of roses for sure, there are ups and downs. We have to think twice when it comes down to finances. Other than that there are the pressure from expectations. People expect parents to be role models and what not. I mean we are human beings too. For me I think the commitment must be there but when it comes to our country's population we have to first put food on our table before we could think of such issue. End of the day it really depends on how our country will want to commit themselves into helping its citizens start a family and have children. It cannot be a one time handout for sure. It must be a long term commitment like what we give to our children. The talk about the issue has always been there and giving out citizenship seems like quick fix. So the question is what if the people stop coming? What's next? (PS: our new pm doesnt even have a child, how to talk to citizens about having more babies? The family policy maker who is a single lady isnt even married. How would she know about the struggles of married couples? Pls lead by example for Sgp sake. Don't just tell people what to do.)
Having children is a very important part of life experience. I feel people who never had children and look after them wouldn't understand the struggle of bringing up kids. As a parent of 2, I too wonder how politicians unmarried or without children can fully identify or understand all these challenges faced by the nation in this present day. It is a big crisis and one in which they just keep implementing short term & short sighted solutions that only exacerbate the existing problems.
You have a single second finance minister, you have a Prime Minister/Finance Minister who does not have children. You think they know how to apportion money and tax subsidy for families? They will just follow a bunch of academic papers, and not really experiencing the truth of the research and resolving the problem. And if you have policymakers who are not able to empathise with childrearing, how to design and create policies that engender a sustainable population?
Correction: One of the Second Finance Minister has 4 children.
We will come to regret in 20 years, when the whole world has an ageing population, we will run out of people to import.
As for those people who think they want a career, good for you. While you and your husband slog away at your job, the maid in your condo (that you're slogging for) is the Mistress of the House, enjoying the fruits of your labour and time with your children.
Well said. I salute you for saying it out
Exactly, the maid in the house is enjoying life but somehow Asian boss ran a previous video insinuating that they are slaves. They can’t be more wrong.
Yes, many a maid lounges by the condo pool on their mobile phones pretending to care for the kids. Some have picnics with other neighbors' maid in the park on weekdays when they are meant to walk the dog but don't, tying the poor dog to the post while they gossip.
at least eart can breath because less human bring to the world😅😅😅
Any regular person who has basic understanding of math can sit down to list and break down the cost of living from getting a decent education, getting a home and maintaining a job and just basic necessities. The amount you will come up to is staggering. My income is sgd3500 after cpf and I single also have very little left over after the usual giving parents money, food and savings. The people earn less than me I feel even worse.
You are lucky already. My income is ZERO (0) dollar. I only wish to have an income of $ 350 not 3,500
Likely a fund management problem or something else. 3500 after CPF is decently sufficient for you to accumulate quite alot of savings. Unless you are giving too much to your parents (usually max 10%), with the assumption that they are still working. And no other weird complications (Health problems). Education in Singapore is dirt cheap if you plan properly. E.g Overload your semester with 8-9 modules and you should graduate half the time required (You pay per semester, earlier graduate lesser money) but you probably have no Life (CCA, Friends etc) during the period. See what your goals are and plan accordingly. As I have no age information, I can only assume you are 20-30s.
@Magurosenbei I'm 42. My parents are retired. I consider myself quite lucky with my salary and situation in SG. I'm quite healthy but with some blood pressure and cholesterol issues and meds. I have a good chunk of savings and am single. I own my hdb having fully paid it off. I'm not that financially savvy to be involved in investments so my focus is simply on saving more since I entered working life. Being financially prudent all my life is still quite a stressful thing. Everything is more expensive nowadays and it's very hard to say if even the savings I have would be enough to retire comfortably. I just try to not be overly stressed about it and enjoy life now as much as I can in my own way. I do feel for people who are less fortunate than me. I just think if i am like this then it's really rough if your income is lower than mine.
Having a family is NOT a cultural issue
It's literally what drives our species to continue and preventing from extinction
MAKE SINGAPORE AFFORDABLE AGAIN
Lols did the indian auntie just started dancing while her friend talk
No, she tried to signal to cut the recording because she said something that was not very sharp about foreigners coming in and getting Singaporean citizenship forgetting where she is from in the first place. I think it struck her a little bit later.
I think the thing with birth rate is showing symptoms and not root cause. Generally speaking, fertility is decreasing, it has direct relations to stress. Many people want kids but are not able to have kids.
If you look at the data, you'd notice that the poorer the country, the higher the birthrate. I have no idea why, but I highly doubt that it is purely a matter of wanting or not wanting.
It's not like you have sex and you immediately have a baby.
actually, children in those poorer countries are treated as an asset for labouring in farms
This topic is something you can write an entire essay about and still not have enough space to complete your argument. So I'm going to embarrass myself and write a long essay for those who got nothing better to do than to read the comments for the kicks. It isn't a perfect argument meant for the scholars or general paper, but just for kicks myself.
The issue we are facing is the same one every developed society is facing. It doesn't matter whether it is across the pond or this side of the pond. Even if you go back in time, it is the same thing. History often repeats itself.
Every time society gets more developed, the ruling class will start opening the workforce to women. What happens when the supply of labour is doubled? The cost of labour is halved. So both parents need to work to raise a family. Now that is IF they want to raise a family. The starting pay for a fresh graduate 20 year ago and now isn't that far apart, but oh boy look at the price of everything.
Another thing that happens as women enter the workforce is that society as a whole becomes more open and inclusive. This is not necessarily a bad thing at the start, but it evolves into something bad later on. Being too open and inclusive means society starts to accept behaviors that were once against the norms. Some examples are same sex marriage. Also, as women start to understand the feeling of having their own money to spend, they start to want careers of their own. Every one knows women are the most fertile between 18 (16 actually but when was the last time you've seen a girl married at 16?) and 25. (news flash, girls are starting to menstruate earlier these days so this age range may already be pushed forward, I'm not a doctor so I don't know for sure) This age is generally where a woman can give birth to healthy babies without medical intervention. But as women start wanting careers, they start delaying childbirth due to FOMO. By the time they are ready to settle and have kids, they are in their late twenties or early thirties. Some already hit late thirties by the time they listen to their body clock. You get where I'm going with this for this point. Now let's move on.
Another thing is that as a country develops, everybody wants a piece of the pie. Businesses start to raise their prices while trying as long as they can to maintain salaries. This goes back to the point I made earlier, starting salaries haven't changed much in 20 years but prices have risen way more. Soon it comes to a point where everything is more expensive than what 60-70% of the native population can afford. They start having bigger issues to worry about than population issues. "If I can't even put food on the table, why care about silver population? I'm more worried about next month's rent!"
For those sectors that consistently have higher average salaries, one thing is that they are often the sectors that have the brightest minds and require the most commitment. Finance, Legal and IT have high salaries. But does anyone not realize that Finance, Legal and IT also have long working hours? Not just that, it is common in Finance, Legal and IT to be on call 24/7. What else is common in these sectors? Quick fire. Lay offs are dime a dozen. Profits drop 1%? Pack your things. Of course I'm exaggerating but not as much as you'd imagine.
Technology also plays a role in this. How many of us can sincerely say they can live in a Singapore stuck in the 1980s and survive? When was the last time you made it through our hottest months without aircon? When was the last time you went our with your neighbours to play catching because that that was the only entertainment you had? Technology made people soft. Families could survive on rice and beans in the 1960s. But we must have rice and meat and eggs these days. Technology also isolates us. When you can get everything done online, there's no need to leave the house to interact with people. So some people literally are too socially awkward to find a spouse to procreate with.
Now we also have to see the ruling class. The new PM is childless. That's a worrying sign. I would assume he has the final say after listening to advice from his cabinet, but his stance will always be from a perspective of a childless person. Would you take dating or relationship advice from someone who has never married? Then again, the previous government didn't succeed in bringing up the birth rate either. So let's not be too harsh on him when he hasn't even got the chance to warm his new seat. After all, the outgoing PM had kids but still got the birth rate to drop to 0.97. This new one came in only to have this statistic fall onto his lap. A fresh perspective may just do the trick. Who knows, maybe his perspective of a childless person allows him to understand why people don't want kids.
I personally think handouts won't solve anything. Prices of necessities have to be artificially lowered for families with children. More time off needs to be given at expense of the government. Taxes need to be raised. Our advantage may be reduced, but our country doesn't need to win a race to the bottom in terms of taxes. Our strategic advantage is our highly sophisticated workforce.
As for immigration, yes, immigration can solve some of the issues. The old are burdening our society, both financially and manpower wise. If we are not having enough kids, more adults are needed to take care of these people and also pay the taxes needed to sustain the government support for these people. I do not mean disrespect to our older generation. Heck my parents are in that generation, but this is just reality. These adults coming in to support our older generation will not have families of their own. Hopefully they will consider settling down here and have children here. That kills 2 birds with one stone no? We get manpower and taxes to support our older folks, and also kids to replenish the population in future.
Anyway I've said my piece. Just had to get that out. Ready to get roasted by fellow keyboard warriors. Cheers.
Haha I felt the need to add on. Just for kicks too. :)
Conservative values on marriage and children - couples have to married to have children - delays the procreation process. Many couples in the nordic countries, NZ, australia have children but they are not married. And when they do, it could as simple as a vow taking ceremony in the garden. Here, unmarried couples with children would be judged quite severely. Some couples are expected to spend lots of money on that nice wedding - adding to their financial burden.
While there are still more educated men than women, the educated women have higher qualifications than men. This leads to 2 things: (i) being able to find an equal partner and (ii) the need to re-distribute the caregiving burden. While both men and women may prefer a equally educated spouse, the men would probably also be ok with a lower educated one while the women would not. Women would then need more time to find that spouse. Women are often the ones expected to carry the caregiving burden - even if they are the more educated or more financially stable. Who would seriously want that? Maybe tradwives. hahaha.
The changing physical landscape and educational priorities have shifted that sense of joy in the moment to a stressful plan-for-a-stable-future moment. Swimming lessons used to be what happens when you jump into that polluted longkang and learn to float, now they've got real coaches in real swimming pools. Games were playing ball with the neighbours in nearby open field. Again, we've got professional coaches for these too. School was where we meet friends and copy homework. Now, school is that nice shiny building where we have to ace the various subjects so that we can have a bright future.
I read through your entire comment and agree wholeheartedly with it, even the part where the old are becoming a burden.
Born in the 1980s, I live in a HDB in the East a stone's throw away from the beach. Never had air con in my house at all but still alive and kicking. For someone who works mainly from home my 5 room flat bill is about $128 per month for 3 adults max. I calculate my expenses and income to the T and live minimally.
When my dad had to go to a nursing home, it was so difficult to try and get in a government run/subsidised nursing home that the volunteer from AIC just told us to go to the cheapest private nursing home, LC, which cost well over 2,500 per month just for one elderly. Eventually I had to settle for a caregiver which was a lot cheaper. Within 6 months I blown 15k excluding medication. As an only child with no help from friends or relatives, it was a huge blow to my pocket. And don't get me started on how, when I had to call an ambulance, we always wind up at Raffles Hospital A&E now instead of CGH. I paid over $330 a day, totalling $1.2k because he had to stay 4 days there.
The financial/education quality of the early immigrants might also have played a part. When combined with the 养儿防老 mentality leading to high monetary demands from children, and the lack of financial literacy/ability in that and/or subsequent generations, can play a big role in why many in the sandwich class are suffering.
The bottom line is governments are not able to make the rich pay their dues, but sometimes releasing too much money into the economy can make inflation even worse. A statement I read from China Observer says it best IMO: For society to maintain its stable operation, 80% of the population must remain in perpetual poverty. This is because the majority of people are driven by suffering. Why do you work? Do you work because you love it? No, you work because you need money. Therefore, money can only motivate those who lack it. It cannot motivate those who already possess it. Thus, to propel society forward we must ensure that 80% of the population remains impoverished. They will neither have enough to eat nor the ability to escape, yet they will continue to toil on the brink of collapse.
It is also about economic. Back then was a farming society, baby are deem as asset. Becos they provide manpower. Nowadays, baby are deem as burden. There is no asset value. Yes singapore literacy level is high. That is y everyone know what to do.
My pay can’t even keep up with current economy expenses and owning my own HDB. What more having children? Way out of the question.
Happening all over the developed world.
Also in underdeveloped countries
In today's world, there isn't an urgent need to increase the population; we are not in a crisis that demands it. Historically, we've seen population booms after periods of intense hardship, like world wars. After these crises, the world experiences a sense of relief and renewed optimism, leading to a surge in births as people feel secure enough to invest in future generations. But in the current climate of relative peace and stability, we don’t see that same drive.
When we examine historical population trends, we notice significant growth following major conflicts. As peace returns, people feel a renewed sense of happiness and security, which inspires them to start or expand families. But today, in a world without the constant reminder of insecurity and instability, this instinct isn’t triggered as strongly.
In a sense, experiencing and then overcoming global fears can heighten the joy people feel in peaceful times. It’s a contrast effect-after facing the hardships of war, people tend to appreciate and invest in peace more deeply. While we may not actually wish for crises to spur growth, it’s an interesting reflection on human nature and how we respond to challenges.
you wrote 3 paragraphs and repeated the same message in all three, just expressed differently😂 We got it, we got it.
In capitalism, every year needs to grow (infinite); once growth stops, the game is over. Most people would favor self-development over family growth. When people think of develop a family usually near retirement, given nowadays Mass Layoff is a things, naturally people will feel insecure no matter how well they did. But nowadays many country start to realize they need better worker protection in order to balance growth and family growth, but often avoid the real cause and proceed to immigration, If the root cause yet to solve everything will be the same.
Nordic countries show that you can't cure, or reverse, a declining birth rate with better working and living condition. Only immigration is the solution so far.
The alternatives, like communism countries, have just as bad birthrates
Out of curiosity, I did some quick Googling of SG birth rates in the last 10 years. While it's true that there's been a steady decline since 2014, especially in 2020 and 2021 (due to pandemic, I presume), there was a healthy bounce back in 2022 and 2023 before it dips low again in 2024.
If I have to guess, to echo the sentiments of the people in the video, the economy is the biggest culprit here. What's happening in SG (inflation, rising living costs, stagnant wages) is happening all over the world, but since SG is so small, the effects of those things are magnified tenfold, it seems. So much so, that it affects the birth rates.
I'm optimistic that once the economy gets better and people find their finances to be viable to start a family, they would do so. There are many negative sentiments being said about Singaporeans, but I do believe they still have a lot of heart, and having a family remains the goal for many of them. And I'm sure the SG government being the frighteningly efficient and extraordinarily rich entity that it is, they'd come up with various initiatives and programs that will support its civilians to reproduce.
So, yeah. Give it 2-3 years, I would say. I hope things will get better for SG!
It's becoming way too expensive to raise a child in Singapore and continue to enjoy the same quality of life. Other factors include having enough time to spend with the child to make sure they grow up well instead of outsourcing parenting to external caregivers.
i feel sg nowadays talk too much which affects the value of your words. Less words, more impact.
1. Movies and Dramas constantly revolve around rich people and their luxurious lifestyles. Makes youth desire financial success - travelling on business class, wearing designer clothes, living in a luxurious tiny apartment. Children are a financial strain, for sure. So they cut out the child entirely.
2. Telling girls that they should dream about becoming a CEO, entrepreneur, doctor, lawyer -- but don't be a housewife. Dream big! Being a mother and a wife is repressive. Build your career first!
That's what girls are told. So they feel ashamed if their dream is to become a wife and dedicated mother.
3. In previous generations, people used to start work at 16-18 years old. By the time they were 28, they would have had enough savings and time to focus on their family. Now, we only start work at 24-28 years old. By the time we are financially ready for children, we are biologically too old.
Bring back apprenticeships so people can reduce the length of school years and start building their career at a younger age.
that’s why western countries where trades and apprenticeships are valued more unlike asia are faring better in birth rates and quality of life, people can get good wages that are competitive with their peers who have higher education and start a family since they are preparing for the careers at a younger age.
We are more concerned about inflation 😅 can barely handle being solo don't mention getting married and having children
Personally I feel today’s world so chaotic why add yr own kids to this messed up world . V sad for them
previous generation anyhow give birth to a football team without caring about finances, next gen suffers poverty , lesson learnt . Do not settle for less or not suffer same fate as parents.We learnt it the hard way. and also you need to reach a certain level in career to be financially adequate to start a family... love also not easy to find, dating takes time what if u invest on the wrong person... takes more time , reach 30s prime is over , just be single at that point.
Don't forget senior prime minister, LKY once does not encourage to have 2 or more children. That's why orchard road is full of hooligans from neighbouring countries.
THIS!
When you look at it from a macro view, adults who choose to have kids now are bringing the kids into a punishing environment because these kids will grow up to support a super large group of aging population.
It’s actually unfair to the new parents too that they have to bear the high cost of raising the kid and their kids next time have to support other old people m
The teacher being so out of touch with the demographic reality truly speaks to the declining quality of our education system and our cynical mistrust of academia.
If push comes to shove, the only pragmatic solution for the lack of human capital in the impending decades is for Singapore to open its doors to foreigners to fill the unoccupied positions. But they can't do so in a reckless manner or they'll risk destroying the country's social fabric, like with what we're witnessing in Europe.
Most people aren't thinking about how their existing actions will affect future generations because most people's priorities are about survival and caring for their own livelihood. But with a problem like declining birth rates, you won't feel the effects of it until it's too late. This is why mitigation is so important.
The paradox of declining birth rates and economic prosperity is observable in virtually every first-world country. As a population becomes more educated and the standard of living increases, we see less couples choosing to have kids. People start to prioritize their careers over childbearing as life expectancies grow, and this encourages couples to delay starting a family even further.
The grandma is right about entertainment's influence on how young people choose to operate. During her generation, there weren't nearly as many distractions to occupy time. We now have an infinite number of other things that we can do instead of following the linear path. It's both a blessing and a curse.
Marriage has fallen out of favor largely because of the modern dating market. Before we had the Internet, people were forced to date within their immediate communities because that was the full extent of their dating pool. Now, people think they have infinite options thanks to dating apps, so there's much less of an incentive to lock down with one person when there's a possibility that someone better could come along.
I vehemently disagree with the notion that we "don't need relationships" and are able to grow independently. Man is a social animal. We crave human connection, both platonically and romantically. We aren't built to live reclusive lives. This is partially why so many people in our generation are reporting depression/anxiety symptoms.
People shouldn't be coerced into having children, but the notion that society should pivot from viewing childbearing as a duty is callous and dangerous. If our collective goal is to preserve humanity, we should aspire to having kids instead of prioritizing our own individual desires first. Otherwise, we will reap what we sow.
For women, it would be ideal to have kids before 30 because of potential fertility issues, but men have a lot more leeway in this regard. Marriage is also becoming increasingly delayed, as reflected in the stats.
Yeah Mate. I complete agree with all you stated. I can tell you that people are really out of touch with the real situation. Growing up I used to see and hear of many women having babies when in my country we had 2.5-2.0 birth rate. now it has gone to 1.48 And we can point out many situations unthinkable 30 years ago like a hospital in a big city of 450 thousand missing a whole week without any birth (city is also has oldest population in Brazil).
We're barely managing to sustain ourselves, how can we afford to have kids 😅. Housing prices are already through the roof, salaries haven't kept up, and inflation is skyrocketing. Essentials are getting more expensive, while luxury goods are dropping in price since people can't afford them anymore. Honestly, I would love to have kids if I had the time, could afford it, and had a single income that could fully support the family. The families with many kids I know seem to be the ones with high-paying jobs, like my bosses
Singapore do not need high birth rate, the country already attract many foreigners talent to work there.
I mean majority race isn't all that local either, well just keep importing people from other countries
Exactly, in fact i would say we are currently overpopulated at 6 million…
We have to import talent because we aren't having babies.
"talent" more like invasion
Exactly. It's the only east asian country unlike china japan and Korea that isnt concerned about the birth rate. It's the same for the west. Spain actually has the lowest birth rate yet we hardly see the news report on it
Most young people of this generation find their living standard has reduced compared with their parents. So, their children can only get worse
23:24 she`s bias as she`s an immigrant herself. How are they talents? They are escaping the tragedies and poverties in their motherlands.
...without being responsible for it (actually rolling up sleeve and "elbow grease" to sort the issue). They simply came to rot dot and added their situation and deplete our reserves. OUR PARENTS, OUR blood and sweat. and who let them in?
Think the prople interviewed here are quite wise and well-thought on the consequences. Besides big stress of living in Sg, and everything needs money here. It is not like we own large farmland, need many ppl. even our flats are so tiny. I think even single salary, with some parents to feed, is tough already, not to mention additional mouths and if later need to buy house and car some more. Jobs are hard to find, and uncertain also. People who prefer fur kids, at least they can help relax the mind, seeing and having to deal with too many people just makes one crazy.
“To Never Have been born may be the greatest boon of all” ― Sophocles
Not only young people preferred pets than kids mr wong also prefered his golden retreiver than kids.
Even if sg birth rate falls below 0.1, its population will grow anyway
Malay growth
Population will grow but birth still low.. population increase due to foreigner's working here
No one dare to admit its mainly about cultural shift. Peoples more and more individualistic. High living cost are only excuse. I dont want to trade my carreer and hobbies for children.
correct.
Everywhere is the same lol
That's true, but having the money can also make it easier if you want to have both.
finally someone says it! Imo it's not economic factors, but a shift in mentality:
●Some people still simply don't want children, just like in the past. (Maybe some are LGBT?) But today, the pressure is gone. So they truly stay childless. In the past, such people still had children because of social pressure.
●Women are still the main carer, and are expected to return to work soon after, and raise a baby while working full-time. At work, the woman is supposed to pretend she isn't tired and her body isn't signalling her to rest. Rinse repeat that 2~3 times for more children? Like a robot? No thank you! Give me 3yrs of time with the baby. Age 0~3 is crucial, and the mom shouldn't have to go back to work at all!
●The tight community is gone. If you as the mother want to have a bit of freetime and not having to take care of the kid 24/7, you will need to pay for every single hour that the kid is away from you. No village to help you raise it. No free babysitting. My mom had free babysitting in the 80s/90s for all her 3 kids.
●Cheating still exists, and since there is no village to help you, you as the mother truly are left alone if you and your husband seperate. In the past, my grandmother had 5 kids and her husband cheated on her so often and eventually left her. But the village was there for her, and they helped her. She wasn't alone.
●Some people don't want to go through pregnancy, but would be ok with having a kid. I am one of them. Adoption is out of the question for me, I am sorry. But if they invented incubators and let us pay for growing babies in incubators and give them to us, I would be willing to pay up to 40000$ per such delivery. I just find the thought of going through pregnancy extremely dreadful.
World is too crowded. Need to reduce population drastically so everyone gets a larger share of natural resources.
You can't reduce population through birth rate since that will leave you with a more aging society, which is bad news.
@hitthedeck4115 how many child you have?
@@haplogroup-J One 2yo. Why?
@abhaykothari3000 The world is not overpopulated.
It’s crazy that people would just say that and not adress the issues of wealth inequality, consumerism, waste, lack of recycling, planned obsolescence and so much more !
@@Geyme971 Wealth is an issue of people with kids. No kids and no need to think beyond a few decades.
A lot of comments already talked about not wanting children to suffer, one type of suffering specific to SG is not talked about: national service for men.
I don't want to risk having a son grow up to waste their time suffering for mandatory service, not just 2 + 10 years, but ongoing depression and mental health problems along with permanent physical injuries. SG is a country that sees people as resources and not humans.
With Climate change kicking in coupled with automation of jobs, we need less and less people.
part-time teacher guess doesn't even come close. this is concerning
Some context such as a plot of the cost of living / housing cost change over the years plus the birth rate stats might be helpful to see the correlation. There are several interviewers think not being able to support the younger generation is the source of the birth rate decline.
This issue is not only in Singapore but also in many countries nowadays regardless of whether or not it's a developed country.
Singapore's population issue is not a numerical one, but a structural one. If you can't increase the bottom, you can also remove the top.
Many don't think this through, but longevity is also one contributing factor. Imagine a working population having to support the retired generation across 50 years against one that is across 20 years.
The thing is, just like the US, the biggest advantage Singapore has is it can use immigration to off set the shortfall. There is no shortage of people wanting to immigrate to Singapore, US, or other western countries.
Immigration is temporary
Immigration is temporary
I would suggest the govt relook at GST. To give you an example Sweden has 25% VAT but their birth rates are much higher. Thats because all baby essentials enjoy zero VAT. Perhaps Sg should do so too. Anyway the GST is for government tax input, there is no sense in collecting and then formulating plans to dish out freebies, how much more admin work is involved. Or you can implement stacked discount schemes one child 10%, second child 12%, third child 15%
Just the sizes and prices of our houses is already enough to show that we shouldn't have more than 2 kids.
Remember quality is always better than quantity, so having more population doesn't mean better
No marriage or job security in extreme cut throat society. Intense competition from people all over the world for jobs in all payscale level. Extremely expensive small housing and cars. One of the most exoensive place to live in the world. Intense competition in shrinking schools, university places. No safety net or welfare provided. Massage shops abound and cheap $50 free lancers from all over the world everywhere hence men don't see any need to commit to marriage & family.Even a government whose message to their people is:" Nobody owes you a living!!". Under such harsh uncertain economic circumstances, will any young person wish to procreate?
Thanks to PAP.
Uhh anyone noticing the trend where the countries with the toughest working culture and highest costs for education having the least birth rates?
people can't even get pass the marriage stage which in itself is a massive hurdle and can be expensive.
The parents are to blame
Please la getting married in Singapore is like a double edge sword lol. Many many people are getting divorce in Singapore because of 1 main reason MONEY. Just let that sink in about the price to pay BTO how long to wait? Education fees expensive, working 6 days a week where got time and more and more.
I believe that economic factors is actually almost a non-factor. I think that Singaporeans do not want kids because of a cultural shift towards individualism and focus on happiness within oneself. Having kids has become a huge risk that threatens the individual's projection of life and there is no guarantee of happiness with kids.
I agree with the elder ladies that times are different now. In the past, many people may want kids because of lack of sex education and financial literacy, they see kids as a symbol of hope in dark times (WW1/2), societal pressures from everyone having kids, or simply because they were bored. Non of these are factors in today's world, and there isn't any external or practical reasons to have kids. The reason to have kids has to come from within yourself, and yet it is difficult to truly see the benefits before having one. No amount of pressure from anyone can convince the general population to have kids anymore.
I think the Singapore government needs a change in approach. People need to be convinced that having kids is an obvious net positive in their lives. There needs to be more education on how kids can enrich one's individual life on a day to day. Singaporeans must be trained to think "kids makes my life better". On top of this there must be clear directives on how Singaporeans can minimize the downsides of having kids. Improving the economical welfare for Singaporeans is only one step of the way. Singaporeans need to see that having kids will improve their lives, and now they just don't see it, and truthfully neither do I.
There's no room for failure here. And humans just don't make babies in a stressful, high-pressure environment like that. If we lived on countryside farms and realised we had lots of free time every day, the idea of having more children would definitely come up because we know we have the time and money to spare for it. Now, Singapore can't become a countryside farm state, no doubt, but it's through this comparison we can see that Singapore's rapid expansion of the economy but forgetting to adjust everything else has caused this. Struggling to keep up financially just to survive, to dream of affording our own houses one day... this isn't a life.
And come on, no one is going to pump out babies " to fulfil our civic duty for the sake of the country". Why would we care about that if it comes at our own expense? Children aren't investments.
If you want a kid, be responsible for the kid, else don’t have one. It’s a choice, not an easy one and unfortunately one where the difficulties are only really known later. Life is dynamic, anything can happen, but you need to be a responsible parent regardless of future circumstances. Don’t expect anyone to help.
Life is getting harder. Housing and food is getting so much more expensive. Youngsters and kids at cafes….are they spending their own money? Is it sustainable? Or it’s an occasional indulgence. Do they represent the majority?
Housing is expensive now. You will probably earn when you sell. But is it that simple? Where will you stay after that? How do you get into the game in the 1st place? Are such prices good for Singapore as a society? Does everyone have rich parents to help with their property down payment?
Is your reality real? Do you really know what’s happening to society as a whole?
Do you notice the usual people ordering food at hawkers centres and coffee shops ordering less?
Are MPs cleaning hawker centre tables real?
Releasing more COE when the available numbers are an integral part of the scheme? Great for now but what does it show?
Nice tall modern buildings? Doesn’t it simply take money to build?
MRT breakdowns and fixes.
Simply go debacle.
Oxley…future provides more options? Ermmmm….wow….huh? What a genius perspective.
Huge financial losses.
The list goes on.
My enthusiasm died with the old guards lol
I cant disclose which NTUC-Income I rubbed shoulders with, told a staff "曾经爱过新加坡" nervous laughter from her, means....SHE UNDERSTAND! There was genuine love. The policies betray ....now brace to handle consequences
aka "enthusiasm died".
7:46 why did she do that hand thing
aunty tweakin
We ended up with a prime minister who is divorced and has no kids. So you can be sure this is not a concern.
Working remotely definitely help to raise kids right after uni. Lucky no office in Singapore. Heard with the 5 days office workweek transition is a nightmare for those raising children.
having kids is fun tho.. rising kids is not that exhausting.. they will drain your energy until they reach 10 years then they will help a lot.. my younger brother have 6 kids the older only 10 yo he help looking for his sibling when his father going outside dating with his mom
For some reason I actually think about the birth rate issue (or more aptly put, phenomena) a lot as I find that birth rate is one indicator of how healthy a society is. Because imagine if a troop of wild monkeys stop breeding all of a sudden. Wouldn't that be seen as very unnatural? Giving birth is also an act that brings life into society. Also, I find that a child's unbridled laughter is one of the most beautiful things - if laughter is the best medicine, a child's laughter would be an elixir, perhaps.
I think in Singapore while we're generally a decently affluent bunch, could it be said that we lack the human zest? Few of us starve yet we worry so much about other issues - our statuses, comparisons, etc. No wars, no natural disasters, our problems are no longer physical but mental. Our expectations for what a citizen should be have simply become too high. On Reddit & HWZ you'd even find people lambasting poorer families for having many children.
I actually think the Chinese and Indians can learn from the Malays in the aspect of their more laidback & 'in-the-present' traits. The latter's community suicide rates (which I find to be the polar opposite of birth rates for it represents the act of taking away a life from the world) are actually much, much lower than the former two. Their family cohesion tend to be much stronger, they tend to be more religious (yes, we're a secular society, but I believe religious families tend to have more children), and while they may be less affluent as a whole, they have this 'it's gonna all work out' mindset which I believe is propped by both family support & religion. If you go to East Coast Park at weekend nights, it's largely Malay families who have set up tents, barbecuing food together, singing songs, playing - which I always found a beautiful sight - they are truly living!
And there's also the rise of women's education, a shift in gender roles, rising cost of living, a shift from collectivism to individualism and more liberal values. Women no longer need men, or actually, nobody really needs anyone anymore as long as you have good education (which leads to good salary). Painting of house, chores, meals - you can get them outsourced to foreign labour at a cheap cost. These days you can even pay for companionship, be it from rent-a-date websites, Thai discos, and so on. Our devices too provide a constant source of stimulation, reducing one's need and desire to socialise. Also, don't forget the dating apps which have taken over large spheres of the dating scene and are profit-driven, incentivised not to truly have couples marry, but have parties stay on the app as long as possible.
But yeah, I guess given that other cities like Tokyo & Seoul also face this issue to the same extent, it's also likely that it's a fast city problem. Crowded, competitive, women's education, capitalism, so on, and these societal forces act on individuals who either decide that it's A) either not worth it to have children anymore or B) have no confidence in doing so.
Hahah sorry I knew I had a lot to say on this but didn't expect to ramble that much. Just some of my thoughts though. This I feel is a very interesting issue/phenomena.
Actually, I don't want to blame Singaporean in Asian Boss, but it's really true that it's pretty easy for Singaporean to get a family home compared to people in other countries. envy.
Girl in black says you need to be lucky to earn 6k. She didnt know our median pay is actually almost 6k. That means half of the country is earning 6k or more!
With low birth rates, there would not be a Singaporean majority in time to come. A huge problem as our identity is already quite weak….
I don't think government really care on this matter, since singapore migrant policy is so flexible as long you have money to show your welcome from all over the globe to get citizenship since singapore population is decreasing
Aiya. Older people don't need the younger generation to support.. in fact the older generation probably own enough assets to support the younger gen.
bro skipped econs lesson ah
nobody mentioned this. 2 generations ago, 3 generations under 1 roof was common and the grandparents played central roles in caregiving of the kids. Nowadays, grandparents don't live under the same roof, so they re logistically less available. The modern grandparents themselves also want to have their personal time , hobbies and be independent unlike in the past. They don't feel obliged like 2-3 generations ago, about the care of grandchildren. With grandparents no longer the default primary support caregivers, parents have less support, and need to rely more on domestic helper and childcare centres. This is an added factor. / if you go back even more to the past, in the kampong days, caregiving was a community effort, your neighbours and extended families not just grandparents. / It takes a village to raise a child. It's the loss of our kampung spirit (communal support). It's not about the money. That's why 12KSGD salary will not make you wanna have more kids. it's hard to raise kids, as only a couple, even with a domestic helper.
This is global issue, but mostly on developing and emerging countries.
singaporeans use the word 'like' too much, which makes them sound less confident
influence of American culture. filler words overused.
Yes they are beginning to sound "like" Americans with kind off, super etc. I miss the la.
Give me 1 SINGLE reason why i should support the boomers? What GOOD HAD THEY DONE FOR US? 500k HDB?