According to recent news reports in 2022, Singapore’s fertility rate has hit a new low, which has put the spotlight on the country’s high housing prices. The fertility rate dropped to 1.05 births per woman in 2022, which is the lowest on record for the country. The COVID-19 pandemic is believed to have exacerbated the decline in birth rates, as many couples put their family plans on hold due to economic uncertainty and disruptions to daily life.
Minister of the prime minister office Indranee Rajah told in the parliamentary committee who serves as a minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, told an parliamentary committee that the later marraiges and parents taking care of older family members altogether are the root cause of decreasing fertility rates.
The minister also explain that being in the tiger year is also one of the cause of declining fertility rates as this year is associated with decrease in birth rates in chinese.
Some of the critics also highlight the point of higher living costs in the cities also plays a major part in this problem.
80 percent of the houses comes under the housing & development board in which the singaporeans are living.Marraiges are getting late due to the continuous rise in the housing prices.
In the budget plan for this month in the budget, the government requested more cash payments at birth and a doubled amount of fathers’ parental leave and a boost in support for HDB home purchase.
A number of fertility rates of 2.1 is thought to be a “replacement level,” which corresponds to the amount of children a woman will need to bear herself , if she had a daughter that survives until the age of childbearing, as per the United Nations.
In the recent demographic challenges Singapore isn’t alone who is suffering with the crisis.
The South Korean fertility rate dropped to a record lowest of 0.78 in the year before, which is which is the lowest among the 38 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
In Japan where there was the highest percentage that was 1.3 for 2021 the Prime Minister Fumio Kishhida’s government committed to raise the amount of money allocated to support for child rearing.