The Business Times
business-time-50
THINKING ALOUD

Children are national assets. Our support must reflect that

A case for treating children as Singapore’s long-term equity

Summarise
google-preferred-sourceAdd BT as a preferred source
阅读简体中文版 (beta)
    • If children generate positive externalities – fiscal, social and strategic – then public co-investment should mirror that reality across the life cycle.
    • If children generate positive externalities – fiscal, social and strategic – then public co-investment should mirror that reality across the life cycle. PHOTO: BT FILE

    Jeffery Tan

    Published Thu, Mar 5, 2026 · 07:00 AM

    SINGAPORE is ageing at a pace that should unsettle even our most disciplined planners.

    By 2030, one in four citizens will be over 65. Our total fertility rate has fallen from 0.97 to 0.87 in a single year. We are not merely below replacement. We are in demographic contraction.

    Policy responses have been serious: enhanced baby bonuses, longer parental leave, housing priority, flexible work arrangements. Necessary measures, all. But they remain heavily front-loaded – concentrated around birth and the early years.

    Thinking AloudSingaporeDemographicsFertilityMinistry of Social & Family Development

    TRENDING NOW

    The new vehicles will comprise a mix of fully electric and hybrid models, including the BYD Seal 6 DM-i.

    ComfortDelGro’s Zig to buy S$10 million worth of BYD cars for private-hire fleet

    StarHub’s H1 Ebitda – excluding Ensign, a cybersecurity joint venture with Temasek – fell 23.8% for the period ended Jun 30.

    Singapore telco price war squeezes earnings, strengthens case for StarHub-M1 deal, say analysts

    Sats posted a S$75.1 million net profit for Q1, up 6% from S$70.9 million in the same year-ago period.

    Sats slides 13.6% as investors dump shares on profit-margin squeeze

    Handled passively, satellite connectivity becomes a service that the telco distributes, while somebody else sets the economics.

    When every phone becomes a satellite phone, what happens to Asia’s telcos?

    Latest T-bills Treasury Bills Results & Interest NewsLatest SSB Singapore Savings Bonds NewsLatest COE Certificate of Entitlement News
    Latest Johor-Singapore SEZ NewsLatest BTO Build To Order & Sales of Balance NewsLatest STI Straits Times Index NewsLatest SGX Dividends, Share Price NewsLatest Bonds Market NewsLatest Singapore Stocks To Buy NewsLatest Singapore Economy News
    View More