Daily Lessons from Life 17 January 2011 - Singapore fertility rate falls to record low

"Singapore fertility rate falls to record low - Mon, Jan 17, 2011 AFP

SINGAPORE, Jan 17, 2011 (AFP) - Singapore's fertility rate slumped to a new low in 2010, meaning the city-state must keep bringing in foreign workers to support economic growth as the population ages, a senior cabinet official said Monday.

The resident fertility rate - or number of babies born per woman per year - dipped to 1.16 last year, down from the previous record low of 1.22 in 2009, said Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng.

The rate is well below the 2.1 babies needed for the population to replenish itself naturally.

"The key hurdle to achieving a sustainable population lies in our weak local fertility rate," said Wong, who also oversees a body that coordinates population policies."

Well, this is one social engineering project that simply FAILED despite the repeated cajoling and exhortation by the brightest and smartest government leaders in Singapore to Singaporeans to have more babies!!

Lessons for me are:

1. the reason to bring in Foreign Workers is well accepted. There are many jobs that Singaporeans DO NOT want to do anyway, childless or otherwise. e.g. construction, shipbuilding, janitorial, etc;

2. the reason why Singapore's fertility rate is so low is not clear. Or rather, not acknowledged by the government. Why did I say that? If the reasons provided by the masses are: too much stress, too little time to make babies, too much money to raise a baby, the tax incentives and all the other incentives that government had put forward are simply NOT enough to entice Singaporean to take the dive, maybe the government has missed the points;

3. Singaoreans do have to recognize that it is inevitable that local born and bred Singaporeans may become extinct and replaced by new Singaproeans who are migrants, an irony not to be missed as the 1st generation Singaoreans were largely migrants!

Can this trend be reverse? Unlikely if the current high stress environment continued. A scenario more likey than not will continue given the stress on economic growth at all cost! Without growth, Singapore will perish is the mantra. Could we have done with a better quality of life with no or low growth? Nobody wants to try as the risk is deemed too high. So, lesser true blood Singaporeans is a reality. Too bad!!