Fertility is not a ‘single problem’
If the reasons for not having children are varied, the policy response must be too
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SINGAPORE’S baby drought deepened to a historic low in 2025, with its resident total fertility rate (TFR) falling to 0.87 children per woman. This also marked a sharp drop from 0.97 in 2024.
Singapore now ranks among the world’s lowest-fertility societies, second only to South Korea, which had a TFR of 0.8 in 2025.
As Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong highlighted, a TFR of 0.87 would translate to just 44 children and 19 grandchildren for every 100 residents today.
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