Singapore

1
Singapore

• Population Policies

2
Case Study Singapore

• Total population 4.3 million
• Resident population 3.5 million
• Singaporeans and Permanent Residents
• Fertility rate
• Declining since 1960s to 1.26 (in 2003)
• One of the lowest in the world!

3
Case Study Singapore
http//www.mof.gov.sg/budget_2004/budget_speech/im
ages/tfr.jpg
4
Population changes

• Post-war baby boom followed by a period of
  economic restructuring and fertility declines
  that have seen rates continuing to fall after
  reaching replacement-level in 1975.

5
Population changes
6
The situation then (late 60s - 70s)

• Industrialisation
• Housing shortage
• Unemployment
• Net population increase (BR?, DR?)
• Incentives for foreign investment
• Investment in public sector
• Economic opportunities
• Education system improvements
• AIM Improve standards of living

7
Anti-natalist policy (1966-1982)

• 1966 Singapore Family Planning and Population
  Board (SFPPB)
• family planning services and
• to disseminate the small family norm
• Pop. Growth 2 per cent per year
• Total fertility rate (TFR) stood at 4.7.
• AIM Zero population growth

8
Anti-natalist policy (1966-1982)
9
Policy Actions

• INCENTIVES
• Voluntary sterilisation legalised
• Benefits for sterilized parents
• Priority in primary school registration
• Reimbursement of delivery fees
• Liberalised abortion

• DISINCENTIVES
• Delivery fee increases
• No paid maternity leave for women on the birth of
  their third or subsequent child

10
Other factors

• Double-digit growth in GDP was achieved in the
  first eight years of nationhood.
• Socio-economic development
• predisposing factors for the adoption of family
  planning
• contributed to the countrys fertility decline
• female labour-force participation rate ?
• Change in family structure
• Nuclearisation of Singapore families
• More living in public housing units

11
Policy Results

• In 1975, replacement-level fertility was reached.
  Smaller families, later marriages.

http//www.ipss.go.jp/webj-ad/WebJournal.files/pop
ulation/2003_6/24.Yap.pdf
12
Policy Results
13
Policy Results
When we adopted these policies they were
manifestly right, enlightened and the way forward
to the future. With the advantage of blinding
hindsight, educating everybody, yes, absolutely
right. Equal employment opportunities, yes, but
we shouldn't get our women into jobs where they
cannot, at the same time, be mothers. You just
can't be doing a full-time, heavy job like that
of a doctor or engineer and run a home and bring
up children It is too late for us to reverse
our policies and have our women go back to their
primary role as mothers, the creators and
protectors of the next generation. Our women will
not stand for it. And anyway, they have
already become too important a factor in the
economy. - then-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, in
his speech Talent for the future, delivered on
14 August 1983
14
Eugenics phase (1983-1986)

• Educational differential in fertility

15
Eugenics phase (1983-1986)

• Graduate females
• Marrying later or not at all
• Giving birth to less children
• Proportions childless or with only one child tend
  to increase with better education, rising from
  about 21 per cent among women with below
  secondary education to 28 per cent among
  university graduates.

16
Eugenics phase (1983-1986)

• Intelligence genetically inherited?
• If yes, intelligent produce less babies, less
  inteligent produce more babies lower quality of
  workforce
• threaten Singapores ability in the long-term to
  compete economically on the global stage.
• Then-Prime Minister Lee Kwan Yew

17
The Great Marriage Debate

• Higher educated women
• (3 or more children)
• Tax relief
• Priority for primary school admission
• Social Development Unit (1984)
• promotes marriage among single graduates.
• http//www.lovebyte.org.sg/

18
The Great Marriage Debate

• Discourage lesser-educated women to have children
• Sterlisation incentive of 10,000
• No O levels, below age of 30
• Stop after 1st or 2nd child
• Penalty of repayment of same amount plus interest
  if they should give birth to a third child

19
The Great Marriage Debate

• Racial overtones
• Separation of groups for policy reasons
• The government worrying about a change in racial
  composition?
• Chinese most educated sub-group

20
The Great Marriage Debate
21
(No Transcript)
22
UNPOPULAR!!!

• Not surprisingly, the eugenics, racial and
  discriminatory overtones of the policy made it
  highly unpopular.
• The policy era quickly came to pass with a
  significant loss of votes for the PAP government
  at the General Election of 1984

23
Pro-natalist Policy (1987 today)

• New Population Policy in March 1987

24
Pro-natalist Policy (1987 today)

• Concerns
• Rapidly aging population
• Projections of Singapores elderly comprising 25
  of the population by 2025, almost matching the
  working age population which is predicted to
  stand at 30 (Navaneetham, 200215)

25
Pro-natalist Policy (1987 today)

• Have Three Or More Children If You Can Afford
  It
• Comprehensive package of benefits and policy
  changes
• Extensive media campaign ? immaterial benefits of
  having children emphasised

26
Pro-natalist Policy (1987 today)

• Targets married couples and unmarried singles.
• Children Life would be empty without them
• Lifes fun when youre a dad and mum,
• The most precious gift you can give your child
  is a brother or sister
• Unmarried singles were bombarded with reminders
  not to leave out building a family while climbing
  the career ladder
• Why Build Your Career Alone? Family Life Helps
• Make Room for Love in Your Life
• Life Would Be Lonely Without A Family.

27
Policy Actions

• Impact on many policy areas
• childcare, primary school registration, housing
  allocation, and taxation
• No-pay leave for childcare was extended from 1 to
  4 years for women in the civil service,
• SGD10,000 cash handout for less-educated mothers
  who underwent sterilization was removed.
• Programs set up to discourage both sterilization
  and abortion
• Campaigns gradually shifted in focus from the
  economic burden of having children to the
  emphasis on the immaterial joys that children
  bring.

28
Policy Results

• The passing of the 1990s saw little improvement
  in the fertility situation in Singapore. On the
  contrary, Singapores total fertility rate (TFR)
  had dropped from 1.96 in 1988 to 1.42 in 2001.

29
Baby bonus scheme (2000)

• Children Development Co-Savings Scheme (in
  short, the Baby Bonus Scheme)
• Third Child Paid Maternity Leave Scheme (called
  3CML)
• Baby Bonus highly controversial
• http//www.babybonus.gov.sg/bbss/html/index.html

30
Baby bonus scheme (2000)

• S9000 for 2nd Child (US5625)
• S18000 for 3rd Child (US11250)
• Defray costs of raising children
• Children Development Account (CDA)
• Government matches dollar for dollar the amount
  saved in the childs account
• Max. 6000 for 2nd child, 12000 for 3rd child,
  money can be used on all children.

31
Baby bonus scheme (2000)

• Public education campaigns
• Family Matters! Singapore committee
• Aim reinforce the family as an institution in
  Singapore by positioning family wellness and
  unity as important life goals, as well as to
  facilitate family formation (including
  procreation) and to build a family-friendly
  environment

32
Baby bonus scheme (2000)

• By 2002, S11 million had been disbursed under
  the Baby Bonus Scheme,
• S9 million under the Third Child Paid Maternity
  Scheme (The Straits Times, 6 April 2002).
• Given the monetary generosity of the scheme, it
  is not surprising that when the TFR fell further,
  hitting a historic low of 1.42 at the end of 2001
• Met with disappointment, frustration, national
  problem with grave implications for the
  economy

33
Baby bonus scheme (2000)

• Ministry Community Development and Sports
  announced a new operating philosophy (The
  Straits Times, 12 April 2002) to promote
  family-friendly workplaces
• The Work-Life Unit, the Family-Friendly Firm
  Award and the Employer Alliance on Work-Life
• Civil Service took the lead in this direction, by
  according marriage and paternity leaves and
  allowing its agencies to adopt flexi-work
  practices.

34
Romancing Singapore

• Romancing Singapore campaign was launched in 2003
  with the aim of helping Singaporeans recognise
  the importance of family life and, hopefully, tie
  the knot (The Straits Times, 7 October 2002)
• Activities organized free dance lessons and
  open-air movie screenings in the park, with the
  website providing an avenue for people to send
  each other e-cards to express their love.
• Now the website is described as a business
  portal, speed dating events etc.
• Http//www.romancingsingapore.com/

35
Chocolate Fondue Affair
36
Romancing Singapore

• Now they deny it (FAQ from website)
• Is Romancing Singapore an initiative to increase
  marriage rate and fertility rate? 
• Romancing Singapore initiatives only providing
  the opportunities for the singles to interact.
  The rest is entirely up to them.

37
Other policy actions

• First-time flat buyers can rent flats while
  waiting for their own flats to be built
• Start families earlier
• Tax rebates
• parents with two to four children
• third and fourth child for employed mothers with
  at least 3 or 4 O levels
• mother is below 31 years of age when she gives
  birth to her second child

38
Other policy actions

• Priority in housing allocation
• Ease of upgrade to larger flats for larger
  families
• Facilitated primary school registration
• Compulsory counseling for couples with only one
  or two children who wanted to get sterilized or
  undergo abortions.

39
Role of wo/man

• Women ? nurterers, primary caregivers
• Man left out of the equation
• Maternity leave with no male equivalent
• 23 years of discriminating against women
• Cap on the number of women who can train as
  doctors to one-third of the cohort
• waste to train women who must eventually leave
  the medical service to fulfill roles as wives or
  mothers
• Abolished in Dec 2002

40
Role of wo/man

• The 1990s have seen a turn to the construction of
  a womans childbearing role as her national
  duty

41
In conclusion

• Cash incentives and tax reliefs
• Top-down approach
• Do not work well!
• Engage more civil society agents

Fertility and the Family An Overview of
Pro-natalist Population Policies in Singapore by
Theresa Wong, Brenda S.A. Yeoh
42
(No Transcript)
43
(No Transcript)
44
Bibliography

• http//www.populationasia.org/Publications/RP/AMCR
  P12.pdf
• http//www.ipss.go.jp/webj-ad/WebJournal.files/pop
  ulation/2003_6/24.Yap.pdf