Indranee Rajah Guides White Paper on How To Draw Fertility Rebound
Singapore's fertility rate fell to 0.87 in 2024, and researchers are now building a White Paper on how to draw policy responses for fertility and child development. The paper will go to the Marriage and Parenthood Reset Workgroup, putting cost pressures, parenting stress and time scarcity at the center of the review.
Indranee Rajah's 0.87 alarm
0.87 was Singapore's total fertility rate last year, down from 0.97 in 2023. Indranee Rajah, the Minister in the Prime Minister's Office and head of the workgroup, said policymakers are focused on financial support, the perceived stress of raising children and time scarcity.
“On one hand, Singaporeans work hard and strive for excellence, and this has helped us progress as a society and country.” Rajah said at the association's annual conference. “But the pursuit of achievement can sometimes come at the expense of rest, well-being, and having ample time and space to pursue life goals beyond work including marriage and parenthood.”
NUS and the Population Association
The White Paper is being jointly developed by the National University of Singapore's Yong Soo Lin School of Medicine and the Population Association of Singapore. Once ready, it will be submitted to the newly formed Marriage and Parenthood Reset Workgroup, which is expected to release its findings in early 2027.
The workgroup is examining the costs families face at different stages of raising children, a narrower brief than broad birth-rate rhetoric. It is also set to engage students, parents, teachers and academics on ways to ease the education arms race, which signals that schooling pressure is now part of the fertility file.
Jean Yeung's care study
Research presented at the conference adds a complication to any simple child-care fix. One study found that children placed in non-parental care in their first 18 months showed stronger cognitive development between the ages of three and six, but they also faced a higher risk of behavioural problems.
More than half the children in non-parental care were there for more than 50 hours a week, and Professor Jean Yeung said the arrangement can ripple back into the home. “The context is these mothers have to leave their babies for very long hours … I think that’s creating a lot of anxiety and stress among women,” she said.
Yeung, head of the Population Association of Singapore, said extended non-parental care raises parental stress, which then affects parenting quality. She also said primary caregivers, usually mothers, were more likely to use punitive methods of discipline as a result, which puts workplace policy and community support squarely into the policy mix rather than leaving fertility to family incentives alone.
