SINGAPORE — Almost twenty years in the past, Loh and her husband decided to not have kids.

Today, 17 years later, the 2 of them are satisfied they made the correct selection.

“I may feel differently when I’m on my deathbed and have to die alone, but at the moment, the choice seems right to us,” mentioned the 46-year-old who works within the tech business.

Loh, who didn’t need to give her full title, just isn’t alone.

Singapore’s birth rate hit a file low in 2022, after years of decline.

Live births final yr plummeted by 7.9%, on account of how costly it’s to reside in Singapore, and the excessive price of residing continues to steer many away from increasing their household, analysts informed CNBC.

Birth charges elevated barely in 2022 to 1.12 from 1.1 the yr earlier than when individuals stayed dwelling throughout Covid and had extra kids.

Still, fertility tendencies have proven ladies are additionally selecting to have kids later in life, or under no circumstances.

Data from the Singapore Department of Statistics confirmed that ladies between the ages of 25 and 29 are actually much less doubtless to offer birth than ladies between 35 to 39 years previous.

“Having a child is tied to many things — the affordability of a house, a spouse, and the maturity of the job market that makes you feel secure enough to do it,” Jaya Dass, Ranstad’s Asia-Pacific managing director.

“The attractiveness of wanting to have a child has actually reduced significantly because of how life has matured and changed,” Dass mentioned.

Already grappling with an aging population, Singapore can also be dealing with one of many world’s lowest fertility charges, prompting the government to dole out incentives and “bonuses” to encourage individuals to have kids.

Couples with infants born from Feb. 14 will obtain 11,000 Singapore {dollars} ($8,000) every for his or her first and second youngster, and S$13,000 for his or her third youngster and past — that is a 30% to 37% leap from earlier than.

Government-paid paternity depart was doubled, growing from two to 4 weeks for fathers of infants born from 2024. 

Although there are a slew of presidency insurance policies geared toward encouraging extra {couples} to have kids, “throwing money” on the problem is not going to solve it, mentioned Wen Wei Tan, analyst on the Economist Intelligence Unit.

“Tackling the fertility rate will require us to confront some of the weakness of the underlying systems … Which means not only addressing demographic challenges, but also helping to build social cohesion, and perhaps look at how we can foster healthier attitudes towards risk taking,” EIU’s Tan mentioned.

In 2022, the EIU ranked Singapore as the most expensive city to reside in, sharing the highest spot with New York City. 

Owning a house collectively can also be a problem for younger {couples}. 

House costs within the city-state proceed to rise quickly, growing by 7.5% year-on-year in June 2023, CEIC information confirmed. 

Public housing flats — identified regionally as HDB flats — are in excessive demand however provide just isn’t catching up, mentioned Tan from the EIU.

Construction got here to a standstill in the course of the pandemic, as labor shortages and the excessive price of uncooked supplies delayed housing tasks, and {couples} needed to wait twice as lengthy for his or her flats, inflicting some to marry later.

This, nonetheless, is only one a part of the problem, as there are a lot of different prices related to elevating kids in Singapore, in response to Mu Zheng, assistant professor on the division of sociology and anthropology on the National University of Singapore.

“There is a sense of instability is dragging people further away from having children,” Zheng informed CNBC.

The excessive price of residing in Singapore is resulting in extra {couples} with two incomes and no children —  typically known as Dinks, a slang for “dual income, no kids.”

That can also be on account of a mindset change and extra {couples} being prepared to place their profession forward of marriage and having children. 

“Once women have children, they’re going to see a slowdown in their career progression. Many make the decision to wait till they feel secure and stable in their jobs so there won’t serious threat to their income if they take time away from work,”  mentioned Tan Poh Lin, senior analysis fellow on the Institute of Policy Studies, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

Delaying marriage means individuals might get extra alternatives to pursue larger training, main some to be extra selective and have higher expectations of their future companions, mentioned Dass. 

In 2022, 36.2% of residents who were 25 years and above had a university degree — that is in comparison with 25.7% a decade in the past.

However, Dass highlighted that this isn’t essentially a nasty factor as a result of “the minute education and literacy increases among women, their ability to come into the workforce and contribute to the economy increases.”