Singapore has introduced high childcare subsidies to cope with low fertility rates, but there are still questions about whether financial support can actually increase the desire to have children.

(Deutsche Welle Chinese website) For Lin Xueni and Chen Yongsheng, who have just entered into marriage, having children has always been on their life lists; but in Singapore, this is not a dream that can be easily realized. "When it comes to raising children, financial burden is one of the most important considerations." Chen Yongsheng said. According to the Singapore Bureau of Statistics, the country's total fertility rate has dropped to 0.87 in 2025, with less than 30,000 births throughout the year, a record low. Its fertility rate is only higher than that of South Korea globally, ranking second to last. Faced with the unprecedented crisis of low birthrate, Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced a series of child care policies at the National Day rally in August. Among them, the much-watched "Singapore Child Care Package" provides support from birth to the age of 17. Each child can receive a government subsidy of nearly 70,000 Singapore dollars (nearly 366,000 yuan; nearly NT$1.75 million), hoping to reduce the financial burden of raising children in the long term. According to this package, in the first year after the child is born, parents can receive a "birth gift" of SGD 10,000 and a health savings subsidy of SGD 5,000. There is also a starting subsidy of SGD 5,000 for the child development account. Afterwards, the government will match the money deposited into the account up to a maximum of SGD 5,000. From the age of 1 to 16, the child can receive an additional SGD 2,000 in child care subsidies every year; when the child reaches the age of 17, the government will top up the post-secondary education account with an additional SGD 10,000. "My first reaction when I saw the news was: 'Wow, the Singaporean government is really trying hard to increase the fertility rate.'" said Lin Xue Ni, who is from Malaysia and moved to Singapore after getting married. Lam Xueni and Chen Yongsheng are both young white-collar workers, but for them, raising children is still a big expense in Singapore, where the cost of living is high. If you want to provide better growth conditions for your children, the financial burden will be greater. "Financial support will be helpful to children at different stages of their growth. However, I also hope that the government can further increase relevant subsidies in the future as inflation and living costs rise." Chen Yongsheng said. For young couples, financial support can indeed alleviate some of the practical pressures of becoming parents. However, spending money to encourage fertility is not a new practice for the Singaporean government. Over the years, the authorities have continued to increase various fertility incentives and family subsidies, but the fertility curve has still not improved. Money is a necessary condition but not an inducement to have children. Whether financial support can truly be transformed into a desire to have children is another question. As a nine-to-five office worker, Lin Xueni is more worried about time. If she has children, one of her main concerns is how to spare enough time to take care of and accompany her children after work. "For me, it would be very tiring if I have to take care of my children and do housework after work," she said. In addition to direct financial subsidies, the new policies introduced by the Singaporean government this time also include relaxing the parental leave system and increasing HDB (public housing) lottery opportunities, etc., hoping to remove obstacles for people who "want to have a baby but dare not". Tan Ean-chi, a sociologist at the National University of Singapore, believes that the focus of policies is shifting from directly encouraging people to have children in the past to placing greater emphasis on the family, ensuring that families receive adequate support and creating an environment suitable for childbirth and raising children. When interviewed by DW, Chen Enci explained it with the concept of "two-factor theory" (also known as hygiene theory and motivators theory). For Singaporeans, financial subsidies are a necessary condition for having and raising children. This may improve external conditions, but it may not be the main incentive for people to decide to have children, and it still cannot satisfy the internal conditions. "Money and various incentives provided by the government are more of a health factor (referring to external environmental factors), which are necessary. But what can really drive people to have children is to make them feel at ease and confident about raising children." He said: "Money is important, but parents must also have a sense of security, confidence, time and energy, and enough quality time to accompany and raise their children." Workplace and social culture become obstacles to fertility. Although more fertility encouragement policies are introduced, Lawrence Wong once admitted that they may not be able to effectively increase the fertility rate. Kalpana Vignehsa, a senior researcher at the Policy Research Institute of the National University of Singapore, believes that structural and cultural factors are important reasons that affect fertility intentions. If these problems are not improved, it is difficult for Singapore's fertility situation to change significantly. Among them, workplace culture and social pressure are the main challenges she considers. Statistics from the Singapore Ministry of Manpower (MOM) show that the average working hours of full-time employees in Singapore exceeds 2,200 hours throughout the year, which is much higher than the average level of approximately 1,750 hours in developed countries. Kalpana pointed out to DW that long working hours have gradually become the norm in Singapore’s workplace. "Partners who are considering having children will ask: 'Do I really have time to spend with the child? If I don't have much time to see my child, what is the point of having a child?'. This is a problem that money cannot solve." The impact of workplace culture is particularly obvious for women. Kalpana pointed out that when working women consider having children, they also weigh the "opportunity costs" that childcare may bring, including the impact on career, income and retirement savings, and most of these costs are still borne by the mother. "The value of 'care' is not fully recognized in our society. Now that women also have their own careers, they will naturally ask themselves: 'Am I willing to bear this cost?'" In addition to workplace pressure, Singapore's highly competitive childcare culture has also increased fertility concerns. From extracurricular tutoring to the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) at the age of 12, children have been in a high-pressure environment of comparison and assessment since childhood. Parents also believe that a lot of time and money need to be invested in each child. This educational environment also adds another layer of concern for the younger generation. They will start from their own growth experience and think about whether they are willing to let the next generation bear the same pressure. “Not only do we have to deal with the pressures of education, but we also have to deal with the pressures of society’s expectations of ‘good parents,’” she said. "If people feel that the threshold for being a good parent is too high, naturally some people will say: 'I don't want to play this game.'