Singapore's declining birth rate a cause for concern: SM Goh

last SG · 2006-08-20T12:16:26+00:00

Originally posted by www: Drawing from his personal experience, Mr Goh said, "My wife and I are fortunate that our son and daughter are not DINKs. They do no...

foomwee88 SG

Do u know our children are all stress out during the week days and they can make love at weekends only,how to produce babies???

The cost of living here is so high,everyones is struggleing 2 make ends meet, and the cost of bringing up a kid to uni level is more than half a million who can afford it now!

U are not comparing apple to apple that why I said u r talkg c singing song!!!

sourketchup SG

People in parts of Africa starve to death and face roving rogue soldiers. The water they drink is as likely to cause fatal diseases as to keep them hydrated. But they still have lots of children.

Why? They do not mind having children even if their next generation would have a dismal future.

But we Singaporeans would only bring children into a world if we think we can provide well for them.

That is what i mean by having different mind-sets. I do not think that the poor Africans are totally right, though.

fudgester SG

I don't believe that the sub-Saharan Africa is a very good subject for comparison here. It's not just about personal mindset here.

Human geography tells us that in impoverished agrarian communities, families tend to big for a couple of main reasons:

1. High infant mortality rates and childhood deaths. People have lots of children knowing that some of them may die.

2. The subsistence agricultural environment is highly labour-intensive. You need to have lots of children to till the soil, raise the crops and manage the herd of animals.

It's not so much about whether they mind bringing their children out into a dismal future. A lot of it also has to do with the fact that they have no choice.

sourketchup SG

Yes, that is what I have put down too, like most highly-urbanised countries like ours, birth-rates tend to be low. But the culture and mindset play parts too.

There are many factors at work here.

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