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Kolette Lim

As Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong prepares to unveil plans to ease the strain on families during his National Day Rally speech on Sunday, a new survey points to a difficult question behind the city state’s record-low fertility rate: what if a substantial share of residents no longer want children at all?
Nearly one in four Singaporeans aged 18 to 44 surveyed by YouGov in July said they had no children and did not intend to have them in the future.
Zahir Latif and his fiancée are among them.
For eight years, the couple have returned to the same question: should they have children? Each time, the conversation has ended in the same place.
They worry about money, time and the fear of losing themselves, Zahir, 42, said. The unstable income that comes with freelance work – he is a content creator and his fiancée is a writer – has also made parenthood feel incompatible with the life they have built.
Taking on a stable 9-to-5 job could mean giving up any semblance of work-life balance, he added.
“Besides money, time is something Singapore struggles to give back to its citizens,” he said. “If you want to get enough sleep, your day is pretty much over in a few hours after work.”
The couple’s decision reflects one of the most striking findings of the survey, based on responses from 496 Singaporean adults aged 18 to 44 collected in July: 23 per cent said they did not currently have children and did not plan to have them in the future. A 2023 YouGov poll found the proportion was 25 per cent among 1,023 respondents aged 18 to 55.
The limits of policy were also evident, with 30 per cent of Singaporeans aged 18 to 44 saying there was nothing the government could do to make them more willing to have children.

Lower-cost preschool and childcare was the policy most likely to encourage parenthood, cited by 35 per cent of respondents in that age group, while improved work-life balance through national initiatives and increased cash incentives were each mentioned by 31 per cent.
The findings showed that giving Singaporeans their time and lives back was as critical as providing financial support, said Vincent Chua, an associate professor of sociology and anthropology at the National University of Singapore.
Singapore’s economic system had made work and raising a family “mutually exclusive” activities, Chua said.
“Modern capitalism demands maximum extraction of labour – not just in terms of hours, but in cognitive focus and emotional energy, and raising a family is an intensive, non-market activity requiring immense emotional and physical bandwidth,” he said.
“In a highly competitive society, there is simply no bandwidth left for the family.”
Zahir said that any scenario they had considered involving children usually meant moving abroad, where cost and time pressures were less intense. “Unless Singapore changes its work culture, no amount of money can change our minds.”
Singapore’s resident total fertility rate fell to a record low of 0.87 in 2025, even after years of state support aimed at making parenthood more affordable and manageable.
Those measures include baby bonus cash gifts, grants and co-matching for children’s savings accounts, healthcare support for newborns, preschool subsidies and lower fee caps at government-supported childcare centres.
In April, Singapore also expanded its shared parental leave scheme from six to 10 weeks, increasing the total government-paid parental leave to 30 weeks for eligible parents.


Officials have repeatedly said the challenge goes beyond money.
In April, a work group chaired by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Indranee Rajah was formed to tackle the declining birth rate, with a mandate to review support across marriage and parenthood.
Last Saturday, Indranee told local media that the team had been receiving feedback from Singaporeans, with a full report expected early next year.
“What is clear is that many do aspire to get married and have children,” she said. “But at the same time, they do encounter challenges including the cost of raising children, the need for time with family, caregiving arrangements and housing.”
Prime Minister Wong earlier this month acknowledged the growing barriers faced by those navigating parenthood.
“Across the world, family life is coming under greater strain. Expectations have risen, and parents feel pressured to give their children the best possible start in life. At the same time, many are caring for ageing parents while balancing the demands of work,” he said during his National Day message on August 8.
The government was taking a fresh look at issues such as the cost of raising children, access to affordable childcare and other ways to lighten the load on families, he added.
Wong is expected to speak about the plans in more detail during his National Day Rally speech on Sunday.

Focus on family well-being
Even so, analysts say Singapore’s fertility challenge should not be read as beyond repair, but as one that may require a broader definition of success: making family life more sustainable for those who already have or still want children, rather than relying only on incentives to lift birth numbers.
“I would not call it hopeless,” said Tan Poh Lin, a senior research fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies, of efforts to raise Singapore’s birth rate. “However, I do view that the demographic transition has now entered a new phase where more simply do not want children regardless of circumstances.”
Singapore was likely to shift its focus to improving family well-being throughout parenthood and expected measures would include enhancements to cash gifts and childcare leave to benefit families with older children, Tan added.
“Apart from more financial and workplace support, what is needed by families is a greater sense of economic security, including access to upskilling opportunities and employment support,” she said. “What is needed is the right environment, crucially a sense of stability and security.”

To have generous family-friendly policies like those in Nordic countries, Chua said society must accept a high-tax social model.
While the Nordic model was enticing, he added that it might not be replicated easily in Singapore due to its work culture.
“Workers who actually utilise such generous leave would likely face career discrimination and employers might simply self-censor and avoid hiring married couples with young children altogether,” he said.
Tax manager Debbie Lin has been wrestling with whether to have a second child. While her heart is set on giving her daughter a sibling, she vividly remembers the sacrifices she had to make for motherhood.
Lin rejoined the workforce in February after putting her decade-long career on pause for two years to focus on raising her daughter. “When I look at peers who are continuously employed, I estimate that I am now around 30 to 40 per cent behind some of them in terms of salary and career progression,” she said.
Companies needed to be encouraged to adopt family-friendly policies, Lin said, to dispel fears prospective parents might have about opportunity costs to their careers.
“A family-friendly policy that employees are afraid to use is not really a family-friendly policy,” she added.


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Zahir Latif’s family life consists of time with his fiancée and four cats. Photo: Handout

Singapore is taking a fresh look at issues such as the cost of raising children and access to affordable infant care to lighten the load on families. Photo: EPA-EFE

Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong will unveil plans to ease the strain on families during his National Day Rally address on Sunday. Photo: dpa

Tax manager Debbie Lin (right) said she wants to have a second child, but is worried that she might fall behind in her career. Photo: Handout

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‘Unless Singapore changes its work culture, no amount of money can change our minds,’ a resident says


‘Unless Singapore changes its work culture, no amount of money can change our minds,’ a resident says.


Lawrence Wong

‘No bandwidth left for the family’: why many Singaporeans want to be child-free

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}‘Unless Singapore changes its work culture, no amount of money can change our minds,’ a resident says

‘Unless Singapore changes its work culture, no amount of money can change our minds,’ a resident says