February 20, 2025
SINGAPORE – Many older Singaporeans would remember the famous 1970s family planning slogan “Girl or boy, two is enough”.
Almost 40 years after the campaign to get couples to stop at two children ended, successive generations of Singaporeans have somehow taken this slogan to heart – but perhaps for different reasons.
While financial considerations might have been a key factor for couples in the stop-at-two era in deciding how many children to have, many of today’s parents are a lot more concerned about being able to give their best – in terms of their time, money and other resources – to theirs.
So fewer (children) means more (for each child).
And two-child families are the norm in Singapore.
The latest Department of Statistics data shows that the largest group of women at the end of their child-bearing years have two children – a trend that has held steady for at least the past 20 years.
Some 41.8 per cent of resident women aged between 40 and 49 who have ever been married had two children in 2024.
So will the new Large Families Scheme, which was announced by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong in his Budget speech on Feb 18, spur more couples to have baby No. 3 or more?
PM Wong said: “Couples with more children often worry about additional costs because the demands grow with each additional child.
“We will introduce a Large Families Scheme to support married couples who have, or aspire to have, three or more children.”
For the third and subsequent Singaporean child born on or after Feb 18, families on the Large Families Scheme will get:
- $10,000 in their Child Development Account First Step Grant, which can be used to pay for pre-school and healthcare expenses. Currently, all Singaporean children, regardless of birth order, get $5,000 through this grant.
- $5,000 in the Large Family MediSave Grant, which will be credited into the mother’s MediSave account. The funds can be used to offset pregnancy expenses, as well as approved dependents’ medical bills. Currently, all Singaporean children, regardless of birth order, get $4,000 through the MediSave Grant for Newborns, a sum that will be raised to $5,000 for babies born from April 1.
- $1,000 per year in Large Family LifeSG Credits during the years that the child is aged one to six. These credits can be used to defray a wide range of household expenses, such as groceries, utilities and transport bills.
How big is a large family?
It is of note that the definition of a large family under the new Large Families Scheme is having three or more children.
This comes as a growing number of married women are remaining childless, whether by choice or not.
In 2024, 15 per cent of resident ever-married women aged between 40 and 49 had no children, up from 7.1 per cent in 2004 and 11.2 per cent in 2014.
On the other end of the spectrum, the proportion of women with three or more children has steadily fallen.
Eighteen per cent of women were in this category in 2024, close to half the 33.5 per cent in 2004. In 2014, the figure was 24 per cent.
In fact, the 2024 statistics show that the largest group of women at the end of their child-bearing years have two children, and this is followed by those with just one child.
The share of women with three or more children is just slightly higher than those with none.
Singaporeans are marrying at an older age, which also has a bearing on fertility.
In the light of all this, three or more children are now considered a large family.
The resident total fertility rate (TFR), which refers to the average number of babies each woman would have during her reproductive years, fell to a record low of 0.97 in 2023. This is one of the lowest in the world.
The 2024 TFR has not been revealed, and it is still a question mark if the 2024 dragon year, which is traditionally seen as an auspicious one for bearing children, will bring about a bump in the numbers.
New scheme may nudge couples open to having more kids
Academics who study population issues say that the Large Families Scheme will appeal to couples who aspire to have more children, and give them a nudge to expand their families knowing that there is some help to make it more affordable, said Dr Mathew Mathews, principal research fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS).
Senior research fellow at the IPS Tan Poh Lin added: “The scheme is likely to be most relevant to those who are open to having three or more children but are hesitating because of financial and credit constraints.
“Those whose acceptable family size ideals are already lower than three are unlikely to change their minds.”
But the Large Families Scheme is not just a promise to those couples thinking of having a third child that they will get help.
One component of the new scheme also extends to families that are already large, and not only those who have their third or subsequent child from Feb 18.
Families with at least one child aged six or younger – or those born between Jan 1, 2019, and Feb 17, 2025 – will also receive $1,000 each year in Large Family LifeSG Credits, until the child turns six. This applies only for the third and subsequent Singaporean child.
This move would be welcomed by parents who have a third or subsequent child in that age group, and it shows that the new scheme also supports existing large families – beyond getting couples to have more children.
Ultimately, whether the new scheme will boost the birth rate remains to be seen.
Dr Tan notes that Singapore’s low fertility rate is the result of “a plethora of causes” and it is hard to address the problem with a single policy.
And any new measure has to be seen in the context of the arsenal of measures already used by the Government to raise fertility in the past two decades.
This includes the Baby Bonus cash gifts for newborn babies, more maternity and paternity leave, and the extension of government co-funding for in-vitro fertilisation treatment for older women.
Dr Mathews said: “Given the ultra-low fertility rate we have in Singapore, any reasonable measure that can help some segments to have more children will be welcome, to at least stem the tide from even lower TFRs.”
- Theresa Tan is senior social affairs correspondent at The Straits Times. She covers issues that affect families, youth and vulnerable groups.