Singapore's pro-natalist policy

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 511.

Singapore is a developed country in SE Asia with a population of about 5 million people. For many years the Singaporean government has believed that Singapore is underpopulated and has tried to increase its population. Singapore has one of the lowest total fertility rates in the world, standing at 1.1, which is well below the replacement rate of 2.1. Already 36% of the Singapore population is made up of foreign nationals and in some sectors like industry, 80% of the workers are foreign.

To overcome worker shortages, the Singapore government has encouraged immigration, but it is also trying to increase the population through raising birth rates. The government is doing this in a number of ways. It has increased maternity leave by 50% to 12 weeks and it will cover the cost of maternity leave (the cost to the parents employers) for the first four babies. The Singapore government is also increasing child benefits paid to families. The government will pay money into a special bank account of up to nearly $1000 for six years. The Singapore government has also sponsored dating organisations to encourage people to get married earlier and start having children.

If Singapore's policies are not successful it will become increasingly dependent on foreign workers, gradually see an increase in the dependency ratio and ultimately economic decline.

Anti-natalist policies- encourage people to have less children