Social Action Plan (Fertility Rate in Singapore)

SOCIAL ACTION PLAN—FERTILITY RATE
    The fertility rate dropped to 1.16 in Singapore last year, it was already at an alarming record low of 1.22 in 2009, well below the natural replacement level of 2.1 babies.
    Despite measures to encourage marriage and procreation, Singapore's TFR fell from 1.28 in 2008 to 1.22 in 2009 and 1.16 in 2010.
    For the Chinese community, it was 1.02 in 2010, down from 1.14 in 2008 and 1.08 in 2009. For the Malay community, it was 1.65 last year, down from 1.91 in 2008 and 1.82 in 2009. The Indian community, too, has been facing declining fertility rates: 1.19 in 2008, 1.14 in 2009 and at 1.13 last year.
    The average household size shrank from 3.7 people in 2000 to 3. 5 in 2010, and the proportion of households with less than 4 people rose from 44% to 51%. The shift towards smaller households was most prominent for Chinese households, of which 54% had less than four members in their household.
70% of the households had married couples in 2010, down from 74% ten years before. About 47% of married couples were both workers in 2010, up from 41% in 2000.
The population is aging, with 24% of resident households having elderly members aged 65 or above, compared with 21% in 2000. 4.6% of the households have only elderly members.
    The average household size was dwindling as Singapore went through the process of industrialization and leapt to being a cosmopolitan society of the first world. This means that Singapore was not progressing fast, but progressing too fast where Singaporean citizens got left behind.
    Many Singaporean citizens could not keep up with the progress of leaping to a cosmopolitan society from industrialization, so they found it tough to raise more children than it was before. People found it very hard to have both a successful career and a good family. The demands of jobs have increased and people need higher skills to get a job before they start a family. Many claim that they get tired from the many...