ASIA/SINGAPORE - Support for families to tackle demographic winter, “but money alone is not enough”

Singapore (Fides News Agency) – The Singapore government has introduced a package of financial incentives aimed at encouraging families to have more children. In a country with one of the lowest fertility rates in the world (0.87 children per woman in 2025) the population is ageing rapidly.
During the National Day Rally at the end of August 2026, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong unveiled a new and more generous support scheme, known as the “Child Support Package”. Under the scheme, the State will provide a total of almost 70,000 Singapore dollars (US$55,000) in direct assistance for each new child who is a Singapore citizen, from birth to the age of 17.
The package includes S$10,000 in cash at birth, 2,000 per year from the age of one to 16 (32,000 in total), contributions to an account earmarked for children’s expenses, and 10,000 dollars towards post-secondary education at the age of 17. Other existing benefits bring the overall value of the support to around S$70,000.
Other related measures include lower childcare fees, additional parental leave – particularly for parents with more than one child – as well as grants and tax relief for families with children purchasing their first home.

The measure does not require parliamentary approval, as it is an executive initiative announced by the Prime Minister. The subsidies will take effect in April 2027. Babies born on or after 1 April 2027 will receive the full new package, while children already benefiting from the previous schemes will automatically transition to the new system, with the necessary adjustments.
The government has described the initiative as a “fundamental change”, moving from support concentrated around the time of birth to sustained assistance throughout a child’s growing years. It is also part of efforts to give families “greater confidence in having children”.
Terence Ho, an analyst at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, welcomed the inclusion of children born to unmarried parents, describing the more inclusive approach as support for “new life”, regardless of the parents’ marital status.

While the measure provides families with concrete financial assistance, however, the question lies further upstream. A recent YouGov survey found that around one in four Singaporeans openly say they do not want to have children, citing reasons such as stress, an intense pace of life, fierce competition in education and employment, and the difficulty of balancing career and family life.
The government itself acknowledges that “the decision to have children is deeply personal”. The aim of the package, it says, is therefore to make life easier for those who already wish to become parents.

In messages and comments from members of the National Council of Churches of Singapore stressed that “money alone is not enough” in the face of structural challenges such as long working hours, a corporate culture that is not sufficiently family-friendly, stress and extremely high educational expectations.
“Singapore is now facing demographic decline after having pursued family-planning policies that, as early as the 1960s, discouraged childbearing,” Joseph Masilamany, a senior Catholic journalist and analyst based in Malaysia, told Fides.

The “Stop at Two” campaign became official and particularly intensive from 1972 onwards, and remained in place until the mid-1980s, with slogans such as: “Girl or Boy, Two is Enough”.
“The system,” Masilamany recalls, “was based on strong incentives and disincentives, including higher hospital costs for a third child and subsequent children; the reduction or elimination of paid maternity leave after the second child; and less favourable treatment in the allocation of public housing and school places for larger families.” Abortion and sterilization were also liberalized and promoted.

“Singapore,” the analyst continues, “is now facing the opposite problem. Later marriages, people choosing not to marry at all, and couples deciding to have few or no children are becoming increasingly important demographic factors. A growing number of women pursue university education, build careers and seek financial independence before considering marriage and motherhood. For many, motherhood is no longer seen as an essential stage of life.”
“Singapore has been remarkably successful in shaping public behaviour through laws, regulations and campaigns,” he observes, “but love, marriage and parenthood cannot be managed as a system in which pressing a button automatically produces the desired result.”
“A government can offer baby bonuses, tax incentives, housing subsidies and childcare support. Such measures can reduce the costs of forming and maintaining a family, but they cannot make young people fall in love, marry earlier or decide that they want children: the government cannot create the desire for parenthood.”
(PA) (Fides News Agency, 3/9/2026)

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