More babies were born in the first half of this year compared to
the same period in 2005.
The Registration of Births and Deaths recorded 18,294 births in the
first half of this year, some 300 more than the same period last
year.
The Singapore economy is on an upswing and so are the birth
numbers: 37,492 babies were born last year.
But in the first half of this year, more babies were delivered,
compared to the same period last year.
Not only are there more first-borns, more parents are also having
their second, third and fourth child.
But a population expert tells our reporter that this marginal
increase is still not enough to lift Singapore out of its low
fertility trap.
Sociologist Dr Angelique Chan said the increase is marginal and
unless more babies are born in the second half of the year, this
upswing may well turn out to be a one-off blip.
Dr Chan said: "I think these figures, while they showed a slight
increase, it's too early for us to make any kind of definitive
conclusions with regards to the relationship between the Baby Bonus
policies and this rise (in) births. We would need data that ranges
from about 5 to 10 years to really be able to say we're seeing any
increase in Total
Fertility Rate (TFR) due to A, a Baby Bonus policy. Or B, the
economy.
"The economy is very important here because we just came out of a
major recession and what we may be seeing is a slight increase in
the number of people saying, yes, I think we're OK now, we're
secure enough to have a child."
So experts feel more drastic moves are needed - such as heavily
subsidised babycare services, and longer, more flexible maternity
and paternity leave arrangements.
Dr Chan said: "Looking at France. They provide free childcare. And
they do subsidise employers for paid maternity leave. If you really
want to make an investment in growing the population, you gonna
have to make a monetary investment, among other things. I think we
need to go much further in Singapore."
She noted that Singapore still has some way to go in terms of
gender equality in the home and in the work place.
She said: "We always talk about making it easier for women to
combine work and family, but what about men? The men should also be
able to combine work and family. And in the new generation of
fathers, there're many men out there who don't mind taking a year
off of paid leave to look after the baby. Changing maternity leave
from the current 3 months to a year is a huge jump. But it's an
ideal. And we can move towards it within the next 5 years, as in a
long-term target."
Dr Chan said one way of raising the fertility rate is to have an
influx of foreign talents.
The Singapore Government, she added, may also want to consider
allowing dual citizenship, so as to 'naturalise' these foreign
talents and their children.
Another problem contributing to low population growth, is that more
women are postponing marriage and parenthood.
The Singapore resident population grew by just 1.9 percent last
year.
And at a TFR of 1.24 - close to Japan's - Singapore's population is
ageing just as rapidly.
A rate of 2.1, or some 60,000 babies every year are needed for
Singaporeans to replace themselves.
