Why aren't incentives working for Singapore's falling fertility rate? | Deep Dive podcast 

"who will care for you when youre old?" You should already be planning for your elderly phase and NOT relying on your children. When we bring children into this world you have to know they owe us as parents absolutely nothing. Many elderly in homes and elder care complain their children don't come see them at all. Don't rely on your kids to take care of you, be an adult, plan ahead, pay for assistance, don't be lazy and entitled.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="700">11:40</a> The awe inspiring and admiring faces of others panelists when she talked about how she want her kid to be in top form. <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="728">12:08</a> The almost disbelief and kind of disapproval faces of the panelists when she said she don’t force her kid to be anything anymore. There, one of the problem. The parents and kids are stress non stop from their own expectation and others starting from pregnancy to adulthood. Endless worrying of their life. It is not surprising if not everyone would want to go on that experience for 20+ years of raising one kid.

Too stressed and overpopulated, too expensive. When both parents have to go out to work full-time in order to survive, the children will hardly see their family. No moral guidance, no family warmth only maids. Kids confined to school from morning till sunset, grow up stressed from studies and CCAs, parents stressed from OT work. No time for family or community bonding leads to less social cohesion and less inclination to have children. No job security due to constant intense competition from other nationalities. Wages constantly undercut. Increasingly expensive and shrinking homes resulting in less personal spaces, which leads to more conflicts. Cars priced 4x that of developed countries, hence family members cannot privately converse during travel journeys and cannot explore together on road trips. Cut-throat atmosphere and constant refrain of "nobody owes you a living'' to citizens makes our country feel less like a warm loving home but more like a cold calculating profit-driven company.

Having children requires a lot of sacrifices. We are now so self-centered that we are not ready to sacrifice our personal freedom for the kids. The education system should focus on the importance of having family bonding, mental health, and community spirit.

because throwing money at a problem without a holistic, structural approach to addressing the issue is doomed to fail.

Why should I suffer to bring another being in to suffer? My kids will be saved from the stresses and drudgery of this life and having never existed, will not feel deprived of the joys they missed out on. The state is worried because there will be less soldiers, nurses, tax payers to perpetuate its will. The state does not care about the well being of the born, only what it can extract from them.

The simple answer is that one side sees kids as assets while the other sees them as liabilities. Some people view monetary, career advancements and achieving personal goals as the only form of abundance. While others think that relationships and a big family are all that matters. If one is bent on not having children for any reason, they should not be compelled or be persuaded. Let those who want to have kids, have them. There’s no right or wrong, only cause and effect.

Birth rates fall as countries fall for one reason: there’s no need. With pensions, healthcare, developed financial products people don’t need large families to provide for them in non-productive years. Free of that burden people will pursue self-actualisation goals. When this need falls away personal liberties take prominence and people are free to have fewer - or no - kids. Or not even form a household at all. A big part of this is greater focus on career. This pursuit necessarily means delaying family formation to focus on education and work.

The reality is that even in the younger generation, some men still believe main caregiving duties fall on the women. I just had a young baby and my husband does not want to step up. Till date he has not changed a diaper on his own. When asked why, he gives many reasons why he is not able to do so, eg he doesn’t know how to change a diaper, or he needs time to get better. He has been shown how to change a diaper time and time again, he just blatantly refuses to do so. Being a new mother dealing with newborn challenges alone is extremely stressful. I have no intention of repeating this again. One and done.

Catch a man a fish, and you feed him for a day Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for life But create a man, and you create a lifetime of hunger that didn't need to exist in the first place.

It's very hard to be a working professional mother who has to take care of more work after work hours, housework and child minding. Getting a maid brings me additional problems. And I am expected to contribute as much if not more at work as all my colleagues who do not have children. I have 3 children now. I love kids but it's hard. Quantity compromises with quality. What would make me willing to have another child would be the possibility of working 50% of what I am doing now and still earning a reasonable sum of money. This allows my family to have dual income and yet time and energy to take care of my children well.

Funny they are excited about 4 weeks maternity leave ? Even in Thailand they have 3 months. Europe they have 12 months

What can help? Take happiest country in the world for example - they have 12 months of paid maternity leave.. this will rly help with new mothers adjusting to the new lifestyle and saving cost of not having to send the baby to infant care etc

This conversation has missed the plot. Singapore is a highly-competitive, elitist n materialistic society -- we celebrate consumerism over culture -- where white-collar professionals are not protected from working 10-12++ hrs a day, n young single adults struggle to move out of their parents' home (many staying until 35 yrs old n beyond) due to high costs n housing policy. This is creating a generation of exhausted n stressed adults with little room to blossom into healthy n happy individuals. Many women are in survival mode n trying to cope in this environment, which is not conducive for families n child bearing. $8k or similar payouts don't make a dent in this situation. Allowing more flexible work, sabbaticals, egg freezing n more fertility support into early 40s is the way to go, while also focusing on changing the narrative in this country.

I do not agree with the point where Crispina points out that parents opt for private preschool as compared to pcf sparkletots. The preschool system is not so robust to consider lower income earners for priority when they sign up for "cheaper" preschools such as Sparkletot. We had a hard time getting a placement for my kid, when I see parents driving Porshe SUV and picking up their kids in sparkletot uniforms.

Divorce loss of house, kids, pension and income etc is the unspoken real cost of families

you know what the next generation's problem would be? more competitive society where their talents doesn't give them money anymore as everyone are as talented as they are. another is them being too independent. our society right now is busy making a living, less time is spent to family. add that aside of taking care of kids during at home is we also spend so much time with our phones, that's less connection to them and them becoming more individualistic, very introverted.

Besides money, there's also space constraints. In US (non big cities), big houses are affordable. Space wise, they can live comfortably with 10 children.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="790">13:10</a> I don't think majority of people will think that current environment is safe. Yes that is no aggressive danger that threatens our physical lives, like in Africa, Gaza, Ukraine, Taiwan etc, but the labor market, the economy, the inflation, the cost of living all these are stressors when its unstable. I would say all these environment factors are also very critical. if some couple earns enough to have kids, but competition in their job sector is high, the turn over rate is high, the job security is low, they know they have to hustle non-stop, These people are always stressed, they know if they don't move up, they are stagnating and at risk, they don't know if they will have a job 5 years down the road. The whole Singapore is like that in varying degrees across industry sectors. The government knows this, that's why they keep asking people go upgrade themselves using skillsfuture to keep their skills relevant. Giving incentives and subsidies are just bandaids, you can't live off the subsidies and incentives, and in the end they are not forever, but the job hustle never ends, the lack of job security never ends. This is the key problem in my opinion

People can have all the kids they want. I am not having any for a plethora of reasons. One of the crucial ones being, I don't want my kids to deal with the climate crisis. Using paper straws and skipping plastic bags are just feel good actions. They do little to actually help tackle the climate crisis. A recent IPCC survey shows that the majority of scientist expect a 2 to 3 degree increase in global temperatures with current measures. If we want to avoid that reality, we need to go cold turkey on fossil fuels right now. That is realistically not going to happen anytime soon. So, good luck to the kids that are being born now. You may say your kids will have air conditioning to survive. Unfortunately, the plants and animals that they need for food won't have air conditioning outside.

Lets increase the wages so we can bring back 1 income families and 1 parent can stay home. All families who have kids should get 25% off their new homes but manage the speculative issues involved.

The truth is, not many like babies and kids. No brainwashing or money will work.

The evil empire can still rely on accepting migrants and foreign labour to offset low fertility turn over rate in Singapore. So its not a big problem for them anyway.

Coming from a mother who left her job to take care of kids full time. The reason some people have children is the joy of raising them, apart from other functional reasons like bonding as a couple, bringing families together and someone to care for you while you are older. Personally costs make people think twice about having more children so while cost subsidies help, cost is not the sole reason why people want to have children. Think about it... I do not want to have children cause children are "cheap". I want to have children because I value the experiences and joy they bring, and that pull factor is one consideration I feel we have not explored very much yet. Hence that is the same reason why I took this "work" break, to take care of my children.

Well, people here have been busy with their roles ever since their first day they are born. When they are finally kind of more established in life when they could do something for themselves, the society wants them to have kids. It’s fine for those who already have having kids as part of their life plan, but not every has that. In the past people have genuine reasons on why they need to have kids, so they would be motivated to give birth to a few. However, I believe the need to have kids has diminished in the modern society and men and women want to pursue what they want more than waiting for another 20 years so that they can do whatever they want. They would be too old by then. Such issues can never be solved by the government with money.

When family with young kids wants to get a family car and have difficulties because of high code but what some more and ministers response? I think the gov should encourage the high earners and ministers to have more children instead….average singaporeans have no time for this

social media plays a big influence on how young people think, they see influencers not wanting kids, they just travel, own pets, vlog food, do nothing. These false influencers give people illusion to crave that lifestyle too. Others will say they don’t want to bring life in this messed up world, global warming, etc.. i don’t really buy that. Humans are resilient beings, we’ve been through a lot and future generations will thrive.

It all stems with not having enough income? The normal or middle income is 3-4k. We have so much bills to pay as an adult. Has our salary increased within the years? nope. Has the bills increased over the years? yup.While you try to justify why you always have to raise the bills , but when we asked to justify why isnt the salary raised.Why isnt the QOL raised ? No one said anything...?? sure , there are policies but they are just panadols for cancer. The core issue is that we dont want to bring up children that has to suffer like us (millenials). We end up as adults who try to buy back all the items we wished we had as a child. We already have issues with living from day to day as fellow adults. Not to mention having to bring up a child. We have medical bills to pay for , installments, baby diapers , baby milk , etc the list could never end. Also , we need our child to remain competitive. Bringing up a child is not like ordering mcdonalds. its a life long commitment. You still gotta worry about your child till you pass away. (im not a parent but this is what its like having a child) this is considering my child is PERFECTLY HEALTHY. How about you look at how the other countries are able to provide so much union support , even being unemployed allows you to have the same QOL (Quality of life) as working. That is when the AI will come into picture..? Universal Wage? If everything is cheap, its just a matter of time we blow up with fertility. Dont have to worry about anything , just making child all day. Look at the older generations or those who live in farms? Just doing your work and then make babies at night. Food is abundance. Space is abundance. Why are we overcomplicating things?? Look at the response for WFH. Everyone was asking for it , but they are just GUIDELINES. there's no OBLIGATIONS to follow at all. THEN WHY RAISE UP IN THE FIRST PLACE? its like telling a litter guy to stop littering , untill you threw out fines and it stopped. That was the way it had been for Sg too. wanna stop something? fine them ? WE LACK UTTER WORK LIFE BALANCE. WE LACK HAPPINESS. WE LACK of SO MANY THINGS for the middle income families. While all the support is given to the poor. The middle struggle to get any because they dont fall in any of the categories! its like the middle child born in a family with the lack of love! Singapore doesnt even seem to be a place for our own singaporeans anymore. My thoughts is this , we live in EARTH. Why should I suffer living in my own home country when there are other stuff out there which is much cheaper and better? its the same saying as all the bosses here too. " Why pay Sg when I can get cheaper workers out there ? " Sure , I could leave Sg too. It's just going to turn into a trend where we Singaporeans leave and turn into brain drain. if any , things were so much stable when LKY was around where he addressed core issues with reasonable plans to tackle. A few hundred dollars is just a drop in a bucket when it comes to raising a child. you can say we are the best at everything , but you also forgot one thing. We are also BEST at giving politically right answers to save troubles. so do what you want and see if the reports are true...? I personally dont trust reports anymore. Its like HR department saying they keep secrecy when doing exit interviews.

Because women have been sold the dream since they were young: 'You should be a super successful CEO. You should work hard and be a globe-trotting, power woman.' So we slogged out guts out studying for 20 years. Obviously we want to keep pursuing our careers. The vision in our mind has been cemented - smart, beautiful, powerful. A stay-home mother with her old tshirt and shorts, messy hair and crying children - that seems like the opposite of successful. Nobody tells us it is good to dream of becoming a mother. Nobody tells us how important it is to raise the next generation of singapore society well. No alumni is given the stage to share about how they grew up and became a housewife - only the career women. We see articles about women in the navy and airforce - amazing, truly. But where's the article that applauds women who are homeschooling their 5 kids or women who quit their jobs as doctors, accountants or teachers to become a stay-home mother? They exist, but they are not recognised. Change your words, change people's mindset. Then the outcome will change too.

Well if you see the Salary : Expense ratio you will know... it's NOT rocket science

before as humans our only problem is to hunt food and look for mate. now, our boss, our jobs, our salaries, our partners and the gifts/life we give them, our families who needs financial support, who likes us, who doesn't, social media, house prices, stock market etc. see the difference? we made our lives too complicated, we already removed the basics we do as humans in the equation. we skip meals, sleep less, sx less all bc of the other musts that society have set in our minds.

need to build bigger more affordable flats+ 100K baby bonus + free local uni for all kids if they get accepted + need to make it affordable for single income households to survive in SG. No two ways around it. Truth is a lot of women don't mind not working and will have kids if its financially viable in Sg. Onus is on govt to bring housing/land price valuation reforms + baby bonus reforms + labour mobility reforms to give Singaporeans more peace of mind to have children. Sg is a very very very cut throat place. A lot of policy makers don't feel it because they are not exposed to the competition anymore once they lock in their govt scholarship.

Great topic and touches almost every couple in Singapore. CNA should have a whole series discussing this because it is about Singapore's survival. For example each episode could focus on one key aspect of raising a child, or another format could be each episode based on the phases of childhood eg. infant phase, preschool, primary school secondary school etc. Also please note that not all first world countries have low fertility rate so our "experts" shouldn't just surrender and say "it's inevitable". Look at Australia. Look at United States. They have a healthy fertility rate. please learn from them

Tax incentives for the father please. Most family will not consider more than 2 kids because likelihood one parent will have to stop working, and there is no additional help provided to the father while mum consider staying at home. It may be easier to convince those have 1 or 2 kids to have more children, than to convince those who decided not to have kids at all.

Steve Chia is so funny with the "I don't give my numbers" 😂😂😂😂

truth is simple. 0 kids - FI (RE Optional) by 40/45 yo 2 kids - work till 60 yo. i have 2 kids myself and i am not sure if its good for my children to have children. getting married is definitely good though...

We should encourage couples to marry below 25 years old , it might be a radical idea , but women after 30 face to much stress from work and demand to much from husband , confinement nanny , confinement meal etc etc , scaring couples away . A younger women would breast feed and not be to worried and stressed

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="32">0:32</a> wow this shaming of new generation not replacing…I guess this stigma is here to stay. Thanks CNA.

It’s funny that the actual reasons many of us have to not having children are not discussed. How do you solve a problem if you are going the wrong direction?

One child here costs one million dollars. Nobody can afford

Selfishness is in every individual. Back then ppl give birth becos of ROI. Now ppl, don’t give birth also becos of ROI. U want birth rate to go up, u must make giving birth into high ROI thing for the ppl. Since, the dawn of time, all events are trigger becos of ROI. Remember,ROI is not is not only quantitative, it could be qualitative.

Because EXTREME CRAZY COSTS > pathetic chicken wing incentives. ($1.5 MILLION PUBLIC HOUSING > $10,000 baby bonus) Wait for BTO? BTO takes over 5 years. Is this a government-mandated test to see how long can you stay with your in-laws before you divorce? Rent is not even an option now because there's no price regulation. If a family cannot survive on a single paycheck with an income of $5,000 a month without grants and subsidies, Singapore is too expensive. Let's not play with words like 'household income' when multiple generations with 2-5 contributors are forced to stay in the same household. That is the bar - one paycheck, one household, $5,000 a month, no terms and conditions. I dare you to say 'affordable housing' to that.

No, I do not agree that the first month isn’t necessary for fathers to be around because “they couldn’t do anything”. In fact, Husbands being around in the first month is just as or if not, MORE CRUCIAL because their wives needs to recuperate after birth as well. Not to mention the likelihood of Post Natal DEPRESSION due to inadequate rest coupled with a crying newborn would certainly makes things worse. It’ll also lead to the rise of mother/child suicides which unfortunately has been on the news lately. Lastly, Not everyone can afford nannies and they might not even have siblings or Grandparents around to turned to for help. So adequate Paternity leaves are important.

Benefits are widely seen as short term while kids are long term, if all tax benefits can be to when kids turn 18 instead of immediate to the 1st 7 or 12 years.

I wonder does the numbers it include those born overseas ? If you see the number of women marrying overseas men, are their kids counted ?

Life in a postmodern successful economy is all about propping up inflation. No incentive can match that. We are well past the point of evolving into homo economicus. But we’re not alone on this journey - Italy, Japan, South Korea, New York… all have basement-level tfrs.

Men are still valued by bringing in the bacon, if they do less work and later dun get promotion .. they get blame. No men leave a women when they dun bring in the money, women leave men when they don’t instead.

PROSPERITY/MATERIALISM, AND COMFORT are the main culprits of falling fertility rate

Society has spent years telling women that having and raising children is not valuable. It has been seen derogatory to expect men to lower themselves to do "womens work" Women are chastised for staying home and raising children (costing tax payers money), being a working mother (neglecting children), and working part-time (chastised for both). We can see true equality, and its not caring for men, children and holding down a full time job. Previously, society remained stable due to the unpaid and unrecognised work of women. We are recognising our value, and choosing our own happiness now. It won't change unless we see true equality.

❤Because one time handout schemes doesn't help at all. In the past the whole system is better than today. The cost of living and speed of inflation is way lower and the moment you are able to raise your kids into adulthood or uni they can figure out what to do in the working world on their own with lots of prospects, opportunities, professions and promotions to entice them to figure out how to spur on by their own will. In today time this system have been corrupted and destroyed already so there is no point in forming families and giving birth anymore. The moment politicians and corporates merge together this world have already been ruined. Their alliance can only benefit and grow themselves fat for a generation time only at the expense of eating up everyone else futures away. Thats why the entire world is crumbling and weak in foundation nowadays. I see it as karma and retribution as these are all man made choices. The rich and callous will of course mock at the working class as usual but in the long course of time actually all will not be able to pull through once the bottom deck are pulled away. But humans being humans as long as the consequences doesn't reach us in our lifetime we couldnt care less in life. That is where the problem lie.

it's the money. I have 150k cash and after buying my house and getting married i'll be left with almost nothing let alone have a child

Why is the government complaning about declining birthrates when this pleases their WEF and ESG policy overlords who wants depopulation? Anyways being born into such a cruel world and forced to do forced military service, might as well not be born at all. I liken this to Singapore facing retribution for its years of forced military service.

TLDR, I see the key reason is modern, educated woman see a strong need to keep up social appearance among their peers in terms of material/career aspects over having a child to contribute to the country.

The experts and gov are not willing to take bold radical moves to improve fertility rate. I have a radical idea which might do it. Universal basic income for families with at least 1 kid below 18. Provide all the basic supplies for kids at no cost, free baby milk powder, free education, free meals, everything free for a kid until they become taxpayers themselves. It takes a village to raise a kid, so all tax payers have to chip in. Without financial worries, people will be more willing to have kids. With such uncertain market conditions now and jobs are less secure, people think twice. If people did not need to work to support their kids, im sure they will have kids.

Save Singapore dollar and quickly retire and spend it on another country makes more sense than having babies

We humans did this onto ourselves. Maybe we are just over informed of too many things making us too stressed as a result. Dr. Norman made a good point about people procreating even under starvation and poverty. Our current generation is materially so much better off but it doesn’t seem to be enough. 😅 oh dear

salary is low everywhere cant even catch up to inflation and gst hike

Kids take a lot of time, energy and money for responsible parents. They are 20+ year projects that can turn out normal, well or truly bad. When we start out at 30+ , there is a biological-financial limit on how many we can have that's why most couples end up with 2 max these days. I have seen couples in their late forties retrenched with school going kids that have no access to social security, those are terrible situations. Also we need to consider saving & investing for our retirement. Those who have 3 or more either tend to be better off in terms of family wealth, have strong family community or belong to the impoverished class where they do not plan or take precautions.

Where in the world incentive for having babies gives desired result?

Because the incentives re not enough to cover the rising cost .

I can't imagine life wihout my kids...they are my reason thrive in life

Could it be the Greenhouse Effect on sperm? Not OBU lah

Sorry but one child is miserable. Im an only child and for the child 9 out of 10 it is horrible. Especially if female and our parents becone senior or no longer around. If youre gna have just one kid on purpose just have NONE.

Think about policies that can sway women’s mindset about having children. Husband tend to follow women’s’ wishes!

Happening in all east asia

Why are the people in the interview so old? Shouldn’t they get people who are in the right generation to answer the question?

The more educated and the more developed a nation is the lower the birth rate.

It is not about wealth _ it is about choosing to follow the modern trend or live like our ancestors did _ be family focused OR OR OR career focused. Women in Arab countries are still family focused but many of us in developing countries are wanting to chase the developed world career path. No way one should have children if women prefer career. Dont have kids as the kids are at the mercy of government _ not elders or neighbourhoods

You need to have 3 broods to replace yourself and your spouse. If you have two, you are just replacing yourself. Also.. give us who is not making babies via race and also age group. At the same time, the salary can't keep up with the pricing of BTO's new launch. Coz it's being affected by resale prices.

We must not suggest its due to Stress in the city as its politically incorrect

I feel very sorry for holly's son. She literally is dissing her son on tv

Foreigner will gladfully takeover your job when you are on leaves

Having kids is such a joke with light jokes and eyes rolling with the presenters now and it will evolve to firmer nays in the future years.

Kids are great, who is going to send you to old folks home when you are old?

Its $$$ issue, u give each couple 100k baby bonus, locals will date and make babies. Cheaper to import foreigners though.

Singapore is awesome. It has been ranked: - Number 1 in Global Passport Ranking 2024 (Henley Passport Index) - Best in mathematics, science and reading (PISA) - Asia’s happiest country, 2024 (World Happiness Report) - Safest country in Asia (Global Peace Index 2023) - Least corrupt country in Asia, 2023 (Transparency International) - 4th wealthiest city in the world (2024 World’s Wealthiest Cities Report) - 4 out of 100 people are millionaires (2024 World’s Wealthiest Cities Report) - 5th least corrupt country in the world, 2023 (Transparency International) - 6th Blue Zone in the world

We have foreign talents from 🇮🇳 to compensate for the low fertility among Singaporeans.

Stevie looks like a male Mona Lisa

Pretty much agree to what Steve said at ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Kz5yTsfgAhw.htmlsi=AuUUsVAlNc0wIDQn&t=1039 I am the father and school teachers tend to call me if something happen or have updates with any of my kids.

1st word to describe…”Lazy” 2nd word to describe …” selfish “ Is she the right person to be interviewed?

How does Stevie feel when a lady host is called to augment his program?

Char Siew or kids.. ? I choose Char Siew 😂😂😂

This is not rocket science. Come on.

S'poreans would rather spend their time splurging as they become more and more wealthy. Many thanks to the PAP govt for bringing them wealth by means of stable and high-paying jobs in a safe environment.❤❤

Those are half baked incentives!

Young people, believe me. If you think only about the present enjoyment then you couldn’t be more mistaken. When you grow old, you need your children especially at your death bed.

Self-Centeredness. . .

Is it possible that sg ladies are not as feminine as their ancestors?

excuses...excuses...excuses...

mothers fail to teach daughters to be wives but instead teach them to pursue careers like sons do. real wives will have more than one child, more giving. women now are more self-centered.

More cash handouts

Too much I phone, especially Holly. She has only a 3yrs old kid. A baby in our life long journey...totally selfish person. Part of the joy in life is about the sacrifice for your children. The joy of see your children grow. It not about the sacrifice. Stress is in your mind, it is about compartmentalising issues. Example time to sleep, just sleep no matter how much you think or do, you will not sovle the problem or problems. Qua Se Ra...Se Ra...whatever will be will be.😂😅🤣🤣🤣