Singapore looks beyond baby bonuses as fertility hits record low

Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has said his government will focus on making life better for families and rely less on incentives to encourage citizens to have more babies, as the city state grapples with a record-low fertility rate.Wong acknowledged the limits of government efforts to reverse falling birth rates, a challenge confronting countries around the world.“Think about it less as procreation incentive,” he said at a Singapore-press-club" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="142464" data-entity-type="organization">Singapore Press Club dialogue on Monday. “Think more about what are the moves we can make to really make life better for families in Singapore.”It’s happening everywhere in the world. No one has the answers for nowSingapore has been trying to reverse a decline in its birth rate by handing out incentives including baby bonus cash gifts, expanded paternity leave and eased egg-freezing rules. Still, the city state’s resident total fertility rate fell to a record low of 0.87 in 2025. Financial costs, the stress of raising children and having to manage work and family demands were common factors cited in family planning decisions.