Why birth rate not enough in Singapore?

[tomsss]

want to make babies, but also want to have enough money first to raise babies

sinkies kiasu wan, want to prepare first then do. In theory, it is easier to manage this way compared to make babies liao then work to survive

 

[siaoliaolor]

i think there are more nitty gritty issues hidden when have a kid

infant care not cheap but one has no choice if no one is looking after it

if your kid prone to being sick, your leave very fast use up
even more so , if your kid is admitted

else will the company be so nice for u to as and when , need to go back fetch kid?
need to take care child at home if most office is WFO. ?

 

[EccentricBagels]

The problem is PAP's lazy and blunt approach to improving TFR all these years has been immigration.
They took so long to increase shared parental leave, and by how much only?

As for housing? The BTO system directly causes people to have kids later. You rightly point out the issues about the long wait time for your flat, challenges with getting PPHC. There's also shrinking flat size which affects quality of life when there are kids.

All these things could have been directly improved through government policy. You can't blame the people for that.

Parental leave will never be enough, baby bonus will never be enough, BTO built times will never be short enough, government incentives will never be good enough.

BTO system doesn't directly cause people to have kids later, it is our own mindset that caused that. Who says that we need to have our own house before having kids? So many parents rented in the open market first, and it also ate up more than 25% of their household income back then. It's just that we all recognised that renting in the open market is a waste of money, and yet we want our own space. Also, shrinking flat sizes barely affects kids these days. They don't run around at home anymore. Most of them either play switch or phone games. Back then we didn't have either, so we ran, climbed and hopped around our homes. I'm not even sure if kids these days know what blind mice is anymore.

I don't blame people for not wanting to have kids, but it is a selfish decision to prioritise ourselves and that's perfectly fine. But until we ourselves are ready, no matter how much benefits are out there, it'll never be enough because having kids needs a lot of sacrifices.
That said, I also don't blame the government for not coming up with more parental leaves. They've to balance our needs/wants with making our workforce competitive. That's tough job to do.

 

[cloudcid]

Personally I have many kids and I love children.
Retrospectively I tend to agree that SG even though with subsidy here and there, this environment is not good unless you got $$

But honestly with $$ any developed country that is safe also good right? No need to be in Singapore...

 

[Canis Lupus]

Low birth rate is a good thing, it prevent more from experiencing the inevitable mortal coils of birth, infirmity, sickness and death. Problem is the existing people don't want the value of whatever earthly possessions that they deem as valuable to drop in value. In a strange way they have already devalued themselves without even realizing it.

 

[Canis Lupus]

Personally I have many kids and I love children.
Retrospectively I tend to agree that SG even though with subsidy here and there, this environment is not good unless you got $$

But honestly with $$ any developed country that is safe also good right? No need to be in Singapore...

To be fair, I think all countries are a human farm of sorts, just that the degree of exploitation varies.

 

[cloudcid]

BTO is another problem
I bid a 4 room BTO
When I have many kids I want a 5 room or bigger

Guess what I am stuck
2nd timer get 5 room in my area is not possible because HDB dun want to build 5 room in PLUS area
4 room is PLUS area is 86sqm
Stuck and locked up. No where to go.

I regret some of my decisions...

 

[volarth]

Don't worry for aging/single/DINKs. Singapore already knows the societal answer. The PAP just refuses to give up GDP for other forms of growth.

Universe 25 -

 

[daveteo88]

Sg wife not want to give birth?

They want but Singapore man hiam them.

 

[daveteo88]

BTO is another problem
I bid a 4 room BTO
When I have many kids I want a 5 room or bigger

Guess what I am stuck
2nd timer get 5 room in my area is not possible because HDB dun want to build 5 room in PLUS area
4 room is PLUS area is 86sqm
Stuck and locked up. No where to go.

I regret some of my decisions...

They want one family make 3 kids but not one family make 10 kids and then say flat is too small.

 

[perfectlight]

stress and money play the biggest part of why

 

[ridiculous?]

in b4 "i only wans to soot insai."

 

[cloudcid]

They want one family make 3 kids but not one family make 10 kids and then say flat is too small.

@daveteo88
Do you have many kids to understand the problem?
Do you think they need more space?
Firstly I dun have 10 kids. But even with 3 kids when they grow up the space is very small esp with Female and Male. Someone has to share room.

If I can AFFORD another 5 room but NOT condo that is 4 bedder
What do you suggest?

 

[daveteo88]

@daveteo88
Do you have many kids to understand the problem?
Do you think they need more space?
Firstly I dun have 10 kids. But even with 3 kids when they grow up the space is very small esp with Female and Male. Someone has to share room.

If I can AFFORD another 5 room but NOT condo that is 4 bedder
What do you suggest?

I suggest you do family planning. If cannot afford bigger house then dun have so many kids.

 

[cloudcid]

I suggest you do family planning. If cannot afford bigger house then dun have so many kids.

@daveteo88
Thanks for your comments (nothing constructive as usual)
Motherhood statement

 

[dambio]

Beyond the financial costs, which are high for most Singaporeans, there is also the cost in personal time.

Everyone only has 24 hours each. More and more of us have to be caregivers to elderly parents. You know how much time you already have to spend at work. Now think of adding children to that. Children don't just need to be fed, they need to be nurtured, they need to be educated. It's not easy.

Some people are willing to make those sacrifices, some are not. There is no right or wrong. Not everyone is cut out to be a parent. You can't return the child to Taobao or Shopee because they didn't meet your expectations, or you got bored with them or you are too tired.

I think the reason why most people aren't having kids, or aren't having more kids, is a mix of these factors. That is why simply throwing money is not working; it is only addressing 1 of the many causes.

The main reason would likely be that people aren't willing to give up their existing lifestyles. How are you going to convince the DINKs to choose having kids which will result in having less time and money and space for themselves? The DINKs are not wrong, and they are not selfish. You have to want kids for the right reasons. If not, better don't ruin the child's life.

So how to come up with solutions? There are already countries facing the same problem that have tried more radical approaches: 1 year paid maternity leave, throwing of much more money than us. We can already see that those paths won't work for us. Which employer is willing to give 1 year paid leave? Not even the government is willing to do that, I am sure.

Just look at the Baby Bonus. Every time there is an increase in the cash portion, the hospitals raise the delivery charges by the same quantum. This is learnt from firsthand experience. All it does is make the delivery almost free. After that you are on your own.

So why is the birth rate not enough, is a tough question to answer, and is not a problem unique to Singapore. It is just changing of people's mindsets with the times, and there is no stopping it.

If you leave it to a certain Minister (name redacted because of Cooling off Day), he will probably come up with NoPopNoJob, and that may actually solve the problem (but create new ones)

#mehmehpiak

Financials aside. It's whether ppl r willing 2 make d sacrifices n finds it worthwhile.

 

[Kuudere]

Surprised no one raised this up yet.

FIRE movement

People prioritise for early retirement over having kids. Having pets also helps to fill the void. No housing policy that states black and white that couples need to have kids after BTOing also.

Self-actualisation pursuits

Can go holidays easily, pursue hobby/interests that take up a lot of time. Some of the hobby/interests could be expensive and time-consuming in nature.

Past Trauma

Met a handful number who grew up with bad parenting, and they decide no point having children or even getting married to break the cycle.

Cohabitation without marriage

Also becoming quite common these days. Both parties, own a house of their own, buy a flat separately as single owner at 35 or older. They move in together to live in one unit. Then rent out the other unit for income after MOP.

 

[madcampus]

Women just want to lead the young single carefree lifestyle (ala Alexis and her girlie friends) as long as they can. By having children will rob them of this very lifestyle. Many women even in their older 40s, still want to lead a sweet nimble 20s chick lifestyle.

Now at Palestine, where ppl not enough to eat, no place to sleep, constant bombings, seeing ppl dying everywhere. But this place on earth has the highest birthrate!!!! So stop complaining about "don't want to bring suffering to my kids" nonsense.

 

[Earthling]

got to hustle so much to avoid our lunches stolen by JHK, where got time

 

[tobii0609]

I always wanted another kid. Wife is way younger than me but time is ticking. We just know it's not possible. Time and money are the only obstacles, speaking from someone who have kid and wants another one. Want more money, work longer hours or side hustle. SG is just not conducive for a sizable family without sacrificing a certain level of lifestyle. Don't say we selfish, the truth hits you harder than you think.