The Business Times
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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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    • Not all who choose not to have children are responding to the same constraints, say the writers.
    • Not all who choose not to have children are responding to the same constraints, say the writers. PHOTO: PIXABAY

    Euston Quah and Eugene Or

    Published Wed, Apr 1, 2026 · 07:00 AM

    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.

    FertilityDemographicsSingaporeSingapore economy

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