Why Is Singapore's Birth Rate So Low? (A View From Inside a Family)

What Is Singapore’s Fertility Rate Right Now?

In February 2026, Singapore’s Department of Statistics released figures showing the resident total fertility rate (TFR) had fallen to 0.87 in 2025. To put that in context:

The replacement level — the TFR needed to maintain population without immigration — is 2.1. Singapore is at less than half that. Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong warned parliament that if no new measures are taken, Singapore’s citizen population could begin to shrink by the early 2040s.

By race, the 2024 breakdown (latest available by ethnicity) showed Chinese at 0.83, Indians at 0.91, and Malays at 1.58. Marriages also fell 6.2% in 2025 — the third consecutive year of decline.

The headlines write themselves. But headlines don’t raise children. Parents do.

Why Is Singapore’s Birth Rate So Low?

Academics, economists, and government ministers have studied this for decades. The honest answer is that it’s not one thing — it’s everything happening at once.

1. The Cost of Raising a Child Is Genuinely High

We’ve done the full breakdown on how much it costs to raise a child in Singapore. The short answer: approximately $237,600 from birth to age 18, averaging around $13,200 per year. That’s before private enrichment, tuition, or anything premium.

Infant care alone — before subsidies — can run $1,275/month. Even with subsidies, many families pay $300–$700/month for a spot. And that’s assuming you can get one. Waitlists are real.

2. Housing Pressure Changes the Timeline

Most couples wait for their BTO flat before starting a family. The average wait from application to key collection is 4–5 years. Add in the time to save for a downpayment, set up the home, and settle in — many couples are in their early-to-mid 30s before they feel “ready.” Biology, unfortunately, doesn’t wait for BTO ballot results.

3. Work Culture Makes Balance Difficult

Singapore ranks consistently among the world’s longest working hours. Both partners typically need to work full-time to sustain a household, yet parenting demands — especially in the first three years — are relentless. The expectation that mothers manage the household AND work full-time, highlighted repeatedly in Reddit discussions, is a significant driver of the decision not to have children.

4. The Competitive Education Environment

Singapore’s education system is world-class. It’s also deeply stressful. P1 registration processes, PSLE anxiety, enrichment class arms races — parents who grew up in this system sometimes consciously decide not to subject a child to it, or simply feel they can’t afford to give a child everything they feel is expected.

5. A Generational Shift in Values

This one is harder to quantify but perhaps the most significant. Younger Singaporeans are increasingly prioritising career development, travel, personal fulfilment, and financial security over early family formation. This isn’t unique to Singapore — it mirrors patterns in South Korea, Japan, and across urban East Asia. Parenthood is becoming a deliberate, highly considered choice rather than a default life stage.

What It Actually Feels Like to Have a Child Here

This is the part the statistics leave out.

Yes, infant care waitlists are real. Yes, the cost is significant. Yes, you will at some point lie awake at 3am doing mental arithmetic about school fees ten years from now. These things are all true.

What is also true: Singapore is, objectively, one of the safest and most liveable places in the world to raise a child. The infrastructure is extraordinary. Your child can take public transport independently from a young age. The hospitals are excellent. The parks are clean. The food is incredible and feeding a family here is genuinely joyful. Your child will grow up multilingual by default.

There are also things that surprised us. The community around parenting — the Facebook groups, the WhatsApp chats, the unspoken solidarity at infant care pickup — is real and warm. The government subsidies, when you actually sit down and understand them, are substantial. We went in thinking we’d be paying $1,200/month for infant care. We ended up paying less than half of that.

The mental load is real. The career sacrifice — particularly for mothers — is real. The decision to have a child in Singapore is not one to take lightly, and we would never tell anyone they should. But the lived experience is different from the fear of it. It is harder than we expected in some ways, and better than we expected in others.

What we didn’t expect: how much having a child would change what we work for. The focus it brings. The way the whole project of a career reorients around something bigger than yourself.

That doesn’t show up in a TFR chart.

What the Government Is Trying to Do

Singapore has been actively trying to reverse the birth rate decline for decades. The current suite of measures is substantial — and genuinely worth understanding before you decide whether having a child here is financially viable.

Baby Bonus Cash Gift

For the 1st and 2nd child: $11,000 each. For the 3rd and subsequent children: $13,000 each. This is cash, deposited directly into your LifeSG account in tranches from birth to age 6.5. See our complete Baby Bonus guide for the full breakdown and how to claim.

Child Development Account (CDA)

On top of the cash gift, the government co-matches dollar-for-dollar what you save in a CDA account: up to $4,000 for the 1st child, $7,000 for the 2nd, and $10,000 for the 3rd and beyond. This money can be used for childcare, medical, and education expenses.

Childcare and Infant Care Subsidies

This is where the real money is for young families. The Basic Childcare Subsidy is $300/month, with an Additional Subsidy of up to $467/month for lower-income households. For infant care, the Basic Subsidy is $600/month. Combined, families earning under $3,000/month can pay as little as $3/month for childcare.

Paternity and Maternity Leave

Mothers receive 16 weeks of government-paid maternity leave. Fathers receive 4 weeks of government-paid paternity leave (increased from 2 weeks in 2024). Shared parental leave provisions also allow parents to share up to 6 additional weeks.

Why It’s Not Enough

Economists and officials have acknowledged openly that financial incentives alone cannot move the needle. The issue is structural and cultural. DPM Gan Kim Yong said in parliament that what is needed is “a shift in societal mindset” — not just more subsidies. When the decision not to have children is driven by values, working hours, housing timelines, and life philosophy, a cash transfer doesn’t change the equation.

So Is It Worth It? Our Honest Answer

We get asked this more than any other question.

Here is what we actually think: the decision to have a child is not a cost-benefit analysis. If you run the numbers in isolation — $237,600 over 18 years, sleepless nights, career compromises, the endless logistics — the spreadsheet will never close in your favour.

But that is also not the right question. The right question is: what kind of life do you want to build, and is a family part of it?

For us, the answer was yes. And Singapore, with all its pressures and costs and competitive culture, is also a place where that family can thrive in ways that are genuinely hard to find elsewhere. The safety. The schools. The parks and hawker centres and MRT lines that actually run on time. The extended family nearby. These things matter more than we expected.

The birth rate is low because having children here is genuinely hard. We are not going to pretend otherwise. But “hard” and “worth it” are not opposites.

If you are thinking about it, or already in it, or somewhere in between — that is exactly why this site exists. Half half. Both of you. All of it.