Singapore birth rates hit record low in 2022; number of deaths the highest since 1960
SINGAPORE’S birth rate hit a record low in 2022, while at the same time the country reached the highest number of total yearly deaths since 1960.
Official figures released by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) showed a 7.9 per cent drop in the number of live births, from 38,672 in 2021 to 35,605 in 2022.
In contrast, there were 26,891 deaths in 2022, a 10.7 per cent increase from the 24,292 recorded in 2021 in the Report on Registration of Births and Deaths.
This was the highest number of total deaths since 1960, reported Chinese-language daily, Lianhe Zaobao.
The report also stated that women are progressively getting older before they start having children, with the median age of first-time mothers rising to 31.9 years in 2022, from 30.6 in 2018. In contrast, there was minimal change in the median ages of mothers who give birth to their second and subsequent children during the same period.
In addition, 63.6 per cent of first-time mothers had university degrees, compared with 58 per cent in 2017.
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The issues of Singapore’s declining birth rates and greying population are not new, with the government implementing several measures to mitigate the impact of these issues.
In February, the government announced plans to support those with marriage and parenthood aspirations to realise them, as Singapore’s total fertility rate (TFR) hit a historic low of 1.05 last year.
This includes greater priority for first-timer families with children, as well as younger married couples, in their Build-To-Order flat applications, including an additional ballot.
Other measures include cash gifts and grants, as well as government-paid paternity leave being extended to four weeks.
In response to queries on the declining TFR, National University of Singapore sociologist Tan Ern Ser remarked that likely factors include children being increasingly not being seen as part of retirement planning, even as the value of children and cost of raising children have risen in an increasingly Vuca (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) world.
More and more resources are necessary for the children’s upbringing and upkeep, which in turn put a constraint on the number of children a couple can afford, he said.
“Other oft-cited factors are the rise of dual-income households, in part to make enough to maintain a middle-class lifestyle, women’s late marriages, priorities given to career, and in turn, the lack of work-life harmony in jobs which emphasise deliverables,” said Dr Tan.
He added that Covid-19 may have been a factor through its impact on employment and income insecurity, as well as in reinforcing the perception of the increasingly Vuca world.
Nearly half of all deaths were from cancer, heart and hypertensive diseases.
The increasing number of deaths, said Dr Tan, is also consistent with Singapore’s rapidly ageing population.
In 2022, the leading causes of death were malignant neoplasms – also known as cancerous tumours – and heart and hypertensive diseases. These collectively accounted for 49.5 per cent of all registered deaths in 2022.
Additionally, lung and respiratory system diseases, as well as cerebrovascular diseases – conditions that affect blood flow to the brain, like stroke and aneurysms – were prominent factors, responsible for 22.1 per cent and 5.8 per cent of deaths, respectively.
Compared with 2021, the proportion of deaths attributed to lung and respiratory system diseases increased by 1.8 per cent; the proportion of deaths caused by malignant neoplasms decreased by 2.5 per cent, noted the report.
Death by unnatural causes, such as accidents, suicides and other external causes, constituted 3.3 per cent of the total cases. Numbers released on Saturday by the non-profit suicide prevention centre Samaritans of Singapore showed that 2022 brought the highest number of suicides since 2000 – a total of 476. THE STRAITS TIMES
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