Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is cranking up a national debate on babies this month,
with proposals to Parliament that would attempt to stem the
country’s slumping birthrate. Penelope Sim isn’t listening.
“My mother-in-law hates me and she says I’m selfish, but I
don’t really care,” Sim, a human resources consultant who’s
been married for six years, said as she shopped for MAC lipstick
and eye liner, a brand of Estee Lauder Cos. (EL) “Everything’s crazy
expensive and life’s already stressful enough here without kids.
If there’s no one to carry on the family name, then so be it.”
Sim, 33, embodies Lee’s challenge to convince Singaporeans
to wed younger and procreate more, four decades after concern
about overcrowding prompted his father to urge citizens to delay
nuptials and have smaller families. The younger Lee is caught
between a rock and a hard place. While the birthrate was about
1.3 children per woman in 2012 — barely enough to replace one
parent — a backlash against soaring immigration forced the
government to curb the influx of foreigners, leading to labor
shortages and slower economic growth.
Measures since 1987 to reverse declining fertility,
including handouts of as much as S$18,000 ($14,600) and extended
maternity leave, haven’t worked. The nation’s birthrate in 2010
and 2011 were the lowest in 47 years of independence. About
36,000 babies were born to residents in 2011, compared with
nearly 50,000 in 1990.
The failure to encourage more births means the country will
have to contend with a shrinking pool of workers and consumers,
a deterrent to future investment. It will also increase the
burden on younger employees to pay for an aging population. Lee
has said higher taxes will be needed in the next two decades as
the government boosts social spending to support the elderly.
Baby Boomers
Singapore’s first cohort of baby boomers turned 65 last
year, and its number of elderly will triple to 900,000 by 2030,
according to the National Population and Talent Division. The
nation defines baby boomers as those born between 1947 and 1964.
The city state isn’t alone in struggling with falling
birthrates. The level in the U.S. hit a record low in 2011, while
Japan’s population is forecast to drop by almost a third by 2060
from 128 million in 2010. China’s three-decade-old, one-child
policy is accelerating declines in its workforce, and Germany’s
birthrate is among the lowest in Europe even as it spends
billions of euros to encourage women to have more children.
Singapore resorted to immigration in recent years to raise
numbers. The population has increased by 1.1 million in the past
decade to 5.3 million. At the height of the influx, in the year
through June 2008, the nation added 251,000 people.
Fertility Treatments
In a package of measures released yesterday on a
government website called “Hey Baby,” Singapore said it will
boost its annual budget on marriage and parenthood to
S$2 billion from S$1.6 billion, including spending on
matchmaking, housing grants, subsidized childcare and fertility
treatments and cash gifts for babies. In 2001, the budget was
S$500 million.
The prime minister, who has four children, is encouraging
couples to start a family earlier by giving priority public
housing to those with kids below 16. With some of the most
expensive real estate in Asia, government-subsidized homes are
the only affordable option for most young couples, and waiting
lists for new apartments can extend years. The government will
make a S$3,000 contribution to childhood medical expenses and
will announce measures tomorrow to make childcare more
affordable.
Social-policy experts aren’t optimistic that the measures
will reverse the trend.
Immigration Dilemma
“No pronatalist policy can bring the fertility rate back to
replacement level,” said Theresa W. Devasahayam, a researcher at
the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, who has
published papers on gender, aging and labor policies in the city
state. “The government is in a fix. For the moment, it has
little choice but to keep importing labor and keep the country’s
doors open to foreigners.”
The new measures come before a Jan. 26 by-election in which
all four candidates for the Punggol East parliamentary seat have
highlighted the cost or availability of childcare.
Singapore, smaller in size than New York City, has few
natural resources and the government relies on a skilled
workforce to sustain growth. The economy has expanded for all
but four years since independence in 1965, bringing million-
dollar high-rise apartments and shopping malls in place of pig
farms and fishing villages.
Singapore’s home ownership rate is about 89 percent and the
Boston Consulting Group estimates there were 188,000 millionaire
households in the city state in 2011. The Economist Intelligence
Unit declared Singapore to be the best place in Asia to be born
in 2013. Gross domestic product per capita climbed to $50,123 in
2011 from $516 in 1965.
Birthquake Effect
Back then, the country boasted a fertility rate of 4.7 and
so many women gave birth in the national maternity hospital in
1966 that it entered the Guinness Book of World Records.
The so-called birthquake raised concern that the fledgling
economy would be overburdened, and Lee’s father, Lee Kuan Yew,
promoted family planning, legalized abortion and encouraged
sterilization. A “Stop at Two” campaign in the 1970s and the
natural decline in childbirth as the economy developed brought
the fertility rate down to 1.82 by the end of the decade.
Last August, Lee Kuan Yew lamented that the number of
births in the city has halved since he came to power in 1959,
even with twice as many people.
“If we go on like that, this place would fold up because
there will be no original citizens left to form the majority,”
Lee, 89, said in a speech published in the Straits Times
newspaper. “We’ve got to persuade people to understand that
getting married is important, having children is important.”
Aging Grooms
Singaporean men and women are delaying getting married in
part because they want to “concentrate fully” on their jobs or
studies, a government survey of 2,120 singles showed this month.
The median age for grooms has risen to 30.1 in 2011, from 26.9
in 1970. For brides, it has climbed to 28, from 23.1.
“We have to find effective ways to encourage Singaporeans
to have more babies,” the younger Lee said in his New Year
message. “We are not impersonal, calculating robots, mindlessly
pursuing economic growth and material wealth.”
Pursuit of possessions may be partly to blame. Singaporean
women are more materialistic than their American counterparts,
which could explain a smaller desire for children, according to
a 2010 study by researchers at the Singapore Management
University and the Northern Illinois University.
In the 1990s, success in Singapore was measured by the
attainment of the so-called five Cs — cash, car, credit card,
condominium and country club membership. Now, there are 9.3
million credit cards in circulation on the island, private
property prices are at a record, and a Volkswagen Golf can cost
more than the median price of an existing U.S. home.
Working Women
The role of women in the economy may also have contributed
to the falling birth rate. They made up 44 percent of the
resident labor pool last year as the government encouraged
greater participation and offered larger tax breaks to working
mothers. In 2010, female graduates outnumbered males in three of
the five most common fields, including business and
administration.
A survey by I Love Children, an organization that promotes
a “children-plenty” Singapore, showed couples cited money as
the top factor for not having babies. It costs at least
S$340,000 to raise a child in Singapore from infancy to the age
of 21, the Asian Parent website estimated last year. A middle-
income U.S. family may spend $234,900 to raise a child born in
2011 to the age of 18, a government report last year showed.
Family Values
“A lot of women in my generation feel torn between work
and family,” said Farah Azmi, a 34-year-old accountant for a
pharmaceutical company who married her boyfriend of four years
in 2011. “I definitely want to have kids but I won’t be able to
be there for them like my mum was there for me and my brothers.
What’s the point of having kids if they’re going to be brought
up by an outsider, by your maid?”
As Lee tries to push for bigger families, his father’s
“Stop at Two” campaign may come back to haunt him. Small
families are happy, own more, have more to eat, and enjoy better
health and education, posters from the 1970s extolled.
“I’m stopping at one,” said Corinne Chia, who is six
months pregnant with a baby boy she plans to name Jeremy. She
said the cost of bringing up a child is the main reason she
doesn’t intend to have more. “He’s not even born yet and I joke
to my friends that I’m already broke.”
To contact the reporter on this story:
Shamim Adam in Singapore at
sadam2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephanie Phang at
sphang@bloomberg.net
Singapore In-Laws Rage as Women Defy Lee’s Plea for More Babies
Munshi Ahmed/Bloomberg
A man and his son look at a view of the central business district in Singapore. The failure to encourage more births means the country will have to contend with a shrinking pool of workers and consumers, a deterrent to future investment.
A man and his son look at a view of the central business district in Singapore. The failure to encourage more births means the country will have to contend with a shrinking pool of workers and consumers, a deterrent to future investment. Photographer: Munshi Ahmed/Bloomberg
Singapore In-Laws Rage as Women Defy Lee’s Plea for More Babies
Roslan Rahman/AFP/GettyImages
Pre-school children tour the Garden by the Bay during an excursion in Singapore. The nation’s birthrate in 2010 and 2011 were the lowest in 47 years of independence. About 36,000 babies were born to residents in 2011, compared with 50,000 in 1990.
Pre-school children tour the Garden by the Bay during an excursion in Singapore. The nation’s birthrate in 2010 and 2011 were the lowest in 47 years of independence. About 36,000 babies were born to residents in 2011, compared with 50,000 in 1990. Photographer:Roslan Rahman/AFP/GettyImages
Singapore In-Laws Rage as Women Defy Lee’s Plea for More Babies
Chris McGrath/Getty Images
A young girl looks on as a couple pose for a photograph at the Singapore Registry for Marriage in Singapore. Singaporean men and women are delaying getting married in part because they want to “concentrate fully” on their jobs or studies, survey showed.
A young girl looks on as a couple pose for a photograph at the Singapore Registry for Marriage in Singapore. Singaporean men and women are delaying getting married in part because they want to “concentrate fully” on their jobs or studies, survey showed. Photographer: Chris McGrath/Getty Images
Singapore In-Laws Rage as Women Defy Lee’s Plea for More Babies
Chris McGrath/Getty Images
People watch as an image of a mother and her baby are projected through water during ‘Wonder Full’ – a light and water show to mark the official grand opening of Marina Bay Sands in Singapore on Feb. 17, 2011.
People watch as an image of a mother and her baby are projected through water during ‘Wonder Full’ – a light and water show to mark the official grand opening of Marina Bay Sands in Singapore on Feb. 17, 2011. Photographer: Chris McGrath/Getty Images
Singapore In-Laws Rage as Women Defy Lee’s Plea for More Babies
Bryan van der Beek/Bloomberg
Office workers commute during the morning rush hour in the central business district of Singapore. Women made up 44 percent of the resident workforce in 2011 as the government encouraged greater participation and offered larger tax breaks to working mothers.
Office workers commute during the morning rush hour in the central business district of Singapore. Women made up 44 percent of the resident workforce in 2011 as the government encouraged greater participation and offered larger tax breaks to working mothers. Photographer: Bryan van der Beek/Bloomberg
Singapore In-Laws Rage as Women Defy Lee’s Plea for More Babies
Sam Kang Li/Bloomberg
The Singapore government spends S$1.6 billion annually on its Marriage and Parenthood package, which includes matchmaking, housing grants, subsidizing childcare and fertility treatments, cash gifts for babies, and tax reliefs.
The Singapore government spends S$1.6 billion annually on its Marriage and Parenthood package, which includes matchmaking, housing grants, subsidizing childcare and fertility treatments, cash gifts for babies, and tax reliefs. Photographer: Sam Kang Li/Bloomberg
Singapore Turns Against Itself as Pressure for Babies Irks Women
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