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🇷🇴 Romania /Economy & Trade

Singapore offers more than €47,000 per child in bid to halt birth-rate collapse

From Adevărul · () Romanian

Translated from Romanian and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources New plan
  • Singapore is introducing a family-support package worth almost 70,000 Singapore dollars, or about €47,580, for each child through age 17.
  • The measures include payments at birth, medical and education support, child credits, cheaper subsidized preschool and extended parental leave.
  • The package responds to a record-low fertility rate of 0.87 children per woman, while high living costs, work pressure and competitive education continue to discourage parenthood.

Singapore is offering families nearly 70,000 Singapore dollars for each child through the age of 17, an unusually large package aimed at reversing the city-state’s record-low birth rate.

Singapore’s future will be as strong as the families that build it.

· Lawrence WongThe prime minister linked the country’s future to the families targeted by the new support package.

Parents will receive about €6,800 when a child is born, followed by two payments of roughly €3,400 for medical and education expenses. The government will also provide child credits worth about €1,360 between the ages of 1 and 16, cut the cost of subsidized preschools to about €100 a month and extend parental leave.

The measures come after Singapore’s fertility rate fell to a historic low of 0.87 children per woman, far below the 2.1 rate generally associated with population replacement. The city-state is expected this year to enter the category of “super-aged” societies, where at least 21% of the population is 65 or older.

They brought it up a few times when we were younger, but now they do not mention the subject anymore.

· LeeThe 34-year-old finance worker described how he and his wife had moved away from plans to have children.

Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said, “Singapore’s future will be as strong as the families that build it.” But money is not the only obstacle. A competitive education system, demanding work schedules and difficulties arranging childcare also affect decisions about parenthood.

We are happy with our current life, so having a child would complicate things.

· LeeHe cited lifestyle changes, including limits on travel and restaurant visits, as reasons not to have children.

A YouGov survey found that about one in four Singaporeans did not plan to have children. Lee, a 34-year-old finance worker, said he and his wife were content with their life and two cats, and believed a child would complicate their travel and restaurant outings. Iqbar Hisham, a 27-year-old construction worker, said the cost of living was extremely high but that the new support encouraged him to start a family soon after marriage.

These support measures encourage me to have children as soon as possible after getting married.

· Iqbar HishamThe 27-year-old construction worker said the package could help him start a family despite high costs.
About this summary

Originally published by Adevărul in Romanian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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