Singapore is introducing a baby bonus of 50,000 euros. Will it work?

Singapore has one of the lowest birth rates in the world. The government is taking drastic measures to turn the tide. But will it be enough?

Baby bonus of nearly 50,000 euros

From now on, anyone having a child in Singapore will receive the equivalent of 47,000 euros. Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced this during his annual speech on 24 August. The government hopes this will make it easier to start a family. Singapore will also provide more funding for childcare and expand the options for parental leave.

Population decline in the coming years

Singapore currently has a population of 6 million. The fertility rate stands at 0.87 children per woman: well below the replacement level of 2.1. If this figure remains unchanged, the population will fall to 4 million by 2040. A large proportion of that population will be elderly, placing a significant care burden on the relatively small number of people in work.

A quarter of a century of fruitless incentives

The government recognises that financial incentives are unlikely to be sufficient to halt the demographic decline. Singapore launched a Baby Bonus Scheme as early as 2001, but this has not halted the decline in the birth rate. Singapore is therefore looking to attract more immigrants, “at a controlled and steady pace”, to ensure that Singaporeans remain the majority in their own country.

The bitter fruits of anti-natalist advertising

Singapore is now attempting to completely reverse course. In the 1960s and 1970s, the government actually campaigned for birth control, with advertising slogans such as ‘The second can wait’. The adverts were so successful that many families never had a second child at all.

This is how humanity will die out

Singapore is a good example of how the Sexual Revolution poses an existential threat to humanity. That may sound extreme. But what will remain of humanity if we stop having children? And what will remain of humanity if children from one-child families themselves have only one child, and that child, together with another offspring from a one-child family, also has only one child?

Where is God in Singapore?

The lesson from Singapore is also that people do not have children for the money. You have children for God. It is no coincidence that birth rates are very low in countries where God has been completely banished from the public sphere.

What is openly discussed in Singapore is taboo in Europe

But let us not completely dismiss Singapore’s policy. In certain respects, the country is doing much better than the European countries. Here, birth policy is practically taboo. 

Removing financial barriers

The least Europe can do is follow Singapore’s example and remove the financial barriers to starting a family. In particular, by giving priority in the housing market. European couples want to have children, but they cannot because they are unable to find a home.

Social stigma surrounding large families

A key factor in the birth crisis is the social status associated with having children. Just like Singapore, Europe has stigmatised having children. Consider the advertising slogan from the 1990s: ‘A smart girl prepares for her future’ by studying and working, not by having children.

Not prepared for the future

Nowadays, anyone blessed with four, five or more children is looked at strangely. Yet such families are indispensable for halting the demographic decline. A society that is blind to this fact is not prepared for its future.

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This article was previously published on Gezin in Gevaar.