The government child policies were very effective in curbing the then overpopulated Singapore back in the 1960s. Singapore was still very underdeveloped and lacked many facilities to sustain such reproduction rates. There was almost a doubling in population from the 1950s to the 1960s and another doubling from the 1960s to the 1970s. (Wong & Yeoh, 2003) Below is a diagram showing the increase in population over the years.
Thus a number of policies were set in place, the most prominent one being the creation of the Singapore Family Planning and Population Board (SFPPB) whose goal was to slow down the population growth, eventually making the reproduction rates zero. (Phua, 2001) Other forms of campaigns include the “stop at 2” policy, which tried to stop families from having more than 2 children by giving them incentives or disincentives.
All these policies, coupled with the growing economy and socioeconomic status of Singapore successfully stopped the over-reproduction rates. However, it soon dawn upon the government that the policy was too successful and they made a fatal error as they were unable to stop the ever-declining reproduction rates. The policy as already become part of the culture and women were now driving forces of the economy. By the 1980s, new policies had to be come up with to help reverse this situation. This included the 3 child policies which gave incentives to families that had 3 children. However, the results were less than satisfactory. Below is more data taken from the same source showing the fertility rates over the years due to the policies introduced.
As you can see, After the 3 child policy, another policy that the government came up with was the Baby Bonus scheme. It was targeted at giving incentives and rewards for people who start a family. Also in tune with the situation that more and more women are going out to work and become more work oriented and are starting families later, the Social Development Unit (SDU) was created to help bring up marriage rates.
Everything I mentioned here is but an abstract of the detailed analysis done by the article. It is a very interesting reading and the effects of the policies have a great influence on us, the next generation of Singaporeans who are entering the workforce and are tasked to keep the Singapore reproduction rates going. The decisions we make in our lives about marriage and having kids would seem insignificant as one entity but together as a country, would be one step closer to maintaining our economic status.
In a nutshell, the government of Singapore might have made a mistake by implementing some of the policies, which results in the current situation we are in today, but what they did was to solve the situation at hand at that point in time. It was important to plan ahead and come up with strategies, but no one can be certain what the future holds. It might not be the best solution because the earth is already becoming overpopulated, but the choice of economic growth versus conservation was not an option, given Singapore’s aim to be one of the leading trading hubs in the world. Even in today’s society, due to the environmental factors and global economy, Singapore is forced to keep up with the rat race and due to the lack of Singaporeans; the government is forced to find people to support its economy rather than focus on conservation efforts. More discussion would be done in the next section of: the influx of foreigners.