News analysis

Why the key shift in Singapore’s baby policy: From incentivising births to supporting parenthood

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In June, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong gave an insight into the shift in approach to get couples to have more babies when answering a question on Singapore’s long-standing fertility challenges.

The idea is to move away from procreation incentives, he said at the Singapore Press Club’s Eminent Speaker Series.

Instead, the Government would look at what more can be done to create a family-friendly environment in Singapore, such as addressing young parents concerns about education, childcare and housing.

And these efforts are “still worth doing”, even if they do not lead to more babies at the end of the day, he said.

That the Government would move from incentivising births to supporting parenthood was heard loud and clear on August 23 when PM Wong delivered his third National Day Rally speech.

Moves will be made to help couples not just start but raise families.

These include more childcare leave, lower childcare fees, and more financial support for parents - among the first set of recommendations from the Marriage and Parenthood Reset Workgroup.

As PM Wong said on Aug 23: “We are aiming for more than incremental improvements or changes to individual schemes.

“We want to make a fundamental shift in how we support families.”

Instead of concentrating the support given around the child’s birth, the Government wants to support parents more consistently throughout the child’s growing up years, he said.

So what is the difference between incentivising births and supporting parenthood, one may ask?

The former relies on rewards or benefits to spur couples to have more children, while the latter offers sustained support to parents - including those with existing children - through the long journey of raising them.

Incentives are also transactional and tied to results, while the shift away from incentivising births signals a move away from the narrow focus on just promoting births.

By providing more support in the areas which parents say they need, this may help parents perceive parenthood to be less daunting, more manageable and perhaps more attractive to those sitting on the fence about having kids.

The shift in approach is also an acknowledgement that incentives alone cannot over-ride the deep social, cultural and structural factors, such as academic arms race and the fear of not being good enough parents, that make some couples shudder at the thought of having another child.

Or even becoming parents in the first place.

New SG Child Support Package applies to existing children

The move from incentivising births to supporting parenthood is evident from the latest parenthood measures announced.

Perhaps most significant is that past enhancements were usually applied to children born after a specific announcement or implementation date.

For example, the Baby Bonus enhancements announced during the 2023 Budget, where the Baby Bonus cash gift was raised from $8,000 to $11,000 for the first and second child among other things, applied only to children born on or after February 14, 2023.

However, the new SG Child Support Package will be extended to all Singaporean children born in 2026 or who are turning one to 17 in 2026.

In short, existing Singaporean children get to enjoy the package where each child get a $10,000 cash gift and $2,000 of child credits in cash annually over 16 years, among other things.

If the move is to promote more births, it would make no economic sense to extend the package to children already born.

Another move away from incentivising births is that each eligible child will get the same amount of support under the SG Child Support Package.

Again, this is unlike the Baby Bonus cash gift which currently gives more money to higher order births.

For example, the third and subsequent child gets $13,000 in cash - $2,000 more than the $11,000 the first and second child gets.

So why the major shift in approach?

The National Population and Talent Division says the new measures recognise the importance of making the parenthood journey of all parents more achieveable and rewarding, and in doing so, help others around them see parenthood in the same vein. This is key to shaping more positive mindsets and societal norms towards marriage and parenthood.

But perhaps what is not said is this: over 20 years of concerted efforts to incentivise births have failed to turn the tide against societal trends pulling the birth rates down, which includes more Singaporeans remaining single and more married couples not having children.

The resident total fertility rate (TFR), which refers to the average number of babies each woman would have during her reproductive years, has been falling over the past few decades.

For example, the TFR was 1.41 in 2001, the year the Baby Bonus scheme first took effect. In 2011, this fell to 1.21. And it fell to a new low of 0.87 in 2025.

A Department of Statistics analysis of the factors behind the falling TFR, released in 2024, found that the growing share of women remaining single is a major reason.

The analysis found that the drop in the TFR between 2005 and 2023 was due to a decline in the proportion of married women, which offset slight increases in the fertility rate of married women.

In April, chairperson of the Marriage and Parenthood Reset Workgroup Indranee Rajah, who is a Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, laid out the areas the workgroup hopes to address.

This includes enabling young people to have opportunities to potentially find a spouse as many young Singaporeans said they find it harder to meet potential partners once they start work, and they may be wary of the people they meet on dating apps.

It also includes moves to help Singaporeans to associate parenthood less with fears about “competition, stress and horror stories” and more with the joys of raising children; and also bring about a shift in workplace culture so that work and family are seen as compatible, rather than competing goals.

On August 23, PM Wong also announced that the Government will cover the cost of all statutory child-related leave, up to the reimbursement limit, hence reducing the financial burden on employers.

He also asked employers to do their part by supporting staff who are parents, adding that becoming a parent should never become a disadvantage in someone’s career.

While the Government has made the shift in approach, the ball is also now in the individual’s court to reframe their mindsets and calculations when it comes to having children.

Hopefully more Singaporeans will feel that at the end of the day, despite the costs and challenges of raising children, parenthood is still worth it.

Watch PM Wong’s National Day Rally speech here: