Singapore’s latest initiative to address its declining birth rate presents a paradox. In the 2025 Budget, Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong unveiled the Large Families Scheme, offering substantial financial support totalling $16,000 – equivalent to the cost of more than two years of pre-school in Singapore. However, this support will be available only to families with three or more children. Demographic realities render this approach less effective than it could be.
Recent data paints a stark picture: Among ever-married resident females aged 40 to 49, only 17.9 per cent had three or more children in 2024 – a 7.1 percentage-point decline from 2019. This downward trend is likely to continue when we consider that the fertility intentions of younger women are becoming progressively more constrained. Given this trajectory, the Large Families Scheme is likely to benefit increasingly smaller proportions of Singaporean families.
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Dr Kalpana Vignehsa is a senior research fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies, National University of Singapore.
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