Who could have guessed it? Birth rates continue to fall in Singapore, while death rates are rising.
This is even though Singapore is the best place in the world to raise children.
According to the Report on Registration of Births and Deaths 2018, published by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority on 22 Jul, just 39,039 births were registered in 2018 compared to 2017, a 1.5% decrease.
Meanwhile, there were 21,282 deaths in the same year, an increase of 1.8%.
Singaporeans are not being replaced quickly enough – a fact that troubles the government -but there are definitely valid reasons why this is so.
In fact, the story has barely changed since last year.
Taking care of a baby is not only a full-time commitment, it is also an increasingly expensive one.
This means that both parents end up having to work, and one’s career ends up consuming all their time as it is. Having a baby is the equivalent of a 24/7 job.
Singaporeans wanting to advance their careers might feel that they cannot afford to have a child, as it would halt career progression.
Kids are absolute angels at the best of times. But you’re not going to find many young people in agreement — those who already think that kids are worth having will have them ASAP.
The problem is that there aren’t enough of these people.
In light of that, perhaps we should speed up that cloning research.
Maybe we should get to the root of the problem instead. Social engineering in the 80s was what made Singaporeans have less children, but the situation has changed since.
Now there is a highly educated work force that does not want to have kids, and for good reasons.
The emphasis might have to be shifted away from a ‘career first’ focus if birth rates are to go back up. If members of our society can be convinced that raising a family is worth the effort, as compared to single-minded career progression, perhaps we can reverse the trend.
But until then, we will remain unsurprised that birth rates are going down. It’s become the status quo.
Featured image from The Honest Company via Unsplash.
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