National Library Singapore 15 October 2020
Read more about the nation’s two-child policy here: http://bit.ly/NLS2childpolicy
Two-child policy
The two-child policy was a population control measure introduced by the Singapore government during the 1970s to encourage couples to have no more than two children. It was part of the second Five-Year National Family Planning Programme (1972–75) that was unveiled at the launch of the 1972 National Family Planning Campaign.
As part of the two-child policy, the government introduced a set of disincentives pertaining to childbirth fees, income tax, maternity leave and prioritisation of public housing allocation aimed at penalising couples who had more than two children from 1 August 1973 onwards. In addition, the government launched an array of family-planning events to garner public support for the policy.
Among the most notable activities were the publicity campaigns that carried messages such as “Small families, brighter future – Two is enough” and “The more you have, the less they get – Two is enough”.
Two-child policy
A two-child policy is a government-imposed limit of two children allowed per family or the payment of government subsidies only to the first two children.
A two-child policy has previously been used in several countries including Iran, Singapore, and Vietnam. In British Hong Kong in the 1970s, citizens were also highly encouraged to have two children as a limit (although it was not mandated by law), and it was used as part of the region's family planning strategies.
From 2016 to 2021, it had been implemented in China, replacing the country's previous one-child policy, until it was replaced by a three-child policy to mitigate the country's falling birth rates. In July 2021, all family size limits as well as penalties for exceeding them were removed. In Singapore, the two-child policy until the 1980s was called "Stop at Two".
‘Stop to 2’ Campaign Works Too Well; Singapore Urges Modern Baby Boom
A lengthy campaign into impress parents in Singapurer to “stop at two” our has worked tables well, and government police are now offering a package of financial incentives inside an attempt to spark a baby boom.
But the major policy shift has left people baffled, our indignant, sociologists skeptical and private employers nervous about potential costs. “Are we being told to have more children for the sake of the country or for ourselves?” asked J. D. Indran, the father about a 2-year-old boy.
“It’s not just a asking of finances,” Indran said. “A baby required be wanted mentally and inward. It would basics be a service to this country to bring up an unwanted child.” The use out law to encourage little families in Singapore. ‘Laughter furthermore Silence’. “These rules represent fabricated by men who own no concept the what’s involved in raising children,” enunciated Thio Su Countenance, a mother who had three children “when it was antisocial at have them.” Getting S'poreans to 'Stop at Two' children became easy. Have more your? That's tough.
Stop-at-two successful but not responsible?
Graph obtained from an NUS study, shows that much of our fall in total fertility rate since 1970 occurred squarely within the ‘Stop at Two’ policy era
I refer to the 6 Aug 2013 Straits Times report of Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s views extracted from his new book “One man’s view of the World”. Mr Lee claimed that he would introduce a baby bonus equal to two years of the average Singaporean’s salary to prove that super-sized monetary incentives only have a marginal effect on fertility rates.
Our average monthly earnings per employee were $4,433 per month in 2012 (Singstats) or $106,392 over two years. According to another Straits Times report [2], the cost of raising a child in a two-children-family is $500,000 per child. The supposedly ‘super-sized’ monetary incentive Mr Lee proposed is only about a fifth of what it takes to raise a child, is it any wonder only a marginal effect should be expected? Such an experiment would prove nothing other than the wide disconnect between what the elites consider to be super-sized generous and what the ground experiences to be the cost of raising a child.
Mr Lee claimed that low birth rates are due to transformed lifestyles and mindsets that the government is powerless against. But the governments of France and Scandinavia have successfully overcome low birth rates [3] despite transformed lifestyles and mindsets. So at best, Mr Lee can only say that some governments are powerless against low birth rates. He cannot deny that other governments have been more powerful against low birth rates. Mr Lee tried to absolve responsibility by claiming it absurd to blame the lowering of fertility rates on his “Stop at Two” campaign in the 1970s. He instead blamed falling fertility rates to the global phenomenon of women’s emancipation and participation in the workplace.
Getting S'poreans to 'Stop at Two' children was easy. Have more children? That's tough
Singapore launched a "Stop at Two" campaign in 1972 to limit the number of children that families were having. It was wildly successful. Fertility rates dropped after the campaign’s implementation and it was even reported that large families felt ostracised for going against the message.
The data shows Singapore’s low birth rates have persisted ever since then. Singapore is desperately trying to reverse the decline in birth rate. Singaporeans are actively encouraged and incentivised to have more children. However, the policies of curbing procreation and encouraging it are not symmetrical.
In a nutshell: Curbing procreation is more direct and blunt, with the interventionist state able to pull many more levers that involved penalties, while encouraging procreation is more oblique and requires nudging citizens in the right direction:
- Before "Stop at Two" campaign
- How two children became the ideal number
- "Two is Enough"
- Discouraging multiple births
- Why was "Stop at Two" so successful?
Propaganda & Procreation: The Stop at Two Posters
First Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew aptly pointed out that Singapore has “campaigns to do this, campaigns to do that”. Indeed, the country has had over 200 national initiatives in less than 40 years since its independence. This translates to a lot of posters, commercials, jingles, mascots, and slogans, most of which are nostalgic and rather chuckle-worthy on hindsight.
Its citizens are reminded to keep Singapore clean, be courteous, emerge as a Sar-Vivor, speak good English, display kindness like Singa the Lion, save my world, and be healthy 365. These advertisements all share a common aim of educating and eradicating social issues. Unsurprisingly, love and family planning also fall under the same umbrella.
This Valentine’s, let us take a romantic trip down memory lane and look at how the government envisioned an ideal Singapore family to be across the periods:
- 1966: Have Smaller Families
- 1972: Stop at Two
- 1987: Have three or more, if you can afford it
'Stop at two policy nothing to do with low fertility'
The policy to encourage families to stop at two children in the late 60s "had nothing to do" with Singapore's current ageing population and low fertility rate, said former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew on Wednesday. He noted that low fertility is a problem most developed countries face, partly because more women, educated and facing equal job opportunities, do not view their role solely as a mother.
The "Stop at two" policy was introduced in 1969 to control the nation's rapid population growth. Lee was responding to a question by a Singaporean student from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP) at a dialogue held by the school, in conjunction with its 7th anniversary celebrations. The graduate student asked how the country could better manage its population policy, adding that Singapore which used to have the "Stop at two" initiative now faces an ageing population.
“Stopping at two has nothing to do with what’s happened. It has happened throughout the developed world, once you have women educated with equal job opportunities, they do not see their future just bearers of children,” replied Lee who was also speaking for the first time as a "distinguished fellow" of the graduate school. He pointed out that the answer in tackling the population challenge remains in bringing in foreigners. “So the fertility rate has gone down in Singapore to 1.18, I don’t see it going back to 2.1, which is the replacement rate. The only way it can happen if you diseducate or uneducate the women, that doesn’t make sense, the economy will suffer. So the answer is migration," he said.
"Have Three Or More If You Can Afford It" is Announced
“Have three, or more if you can afford it” is the slogan for the government’s new pro-natalist population policy aimed at encouraging parents to have more children. Announced by then First Deputy Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong on 1 March 1987, the slogan marked the end of the anti-natalist two-child population policy, which had been in place since 1972. The new policy came at a time when the country’s total fertility rate (TFR) – the average number of children a female would have during her reproductive years – had fallen below the replacement level of 2.1 children per woman. The decline began in 1977 when the TFR dropped to 1.82 after registering 2.11 in 1976. Thereafter, the figure continued slipping and reached 1.74 in 1980; by 1986, the TFR was 1.42, which was the lowest in the decade of the1980s. The fall in fertility rate was attributed to various factors, including the two-child population policy and the lopsided procreation pattern in which better-educated married couples were delaying parenthood. To arrest the falling birth rates, the government set up a high-level inter-ministerial population committee in 1986 to review and recommend changes to the population policy. These changes formed the basis of the country’s pro-natalist population policy.
To persuade couples to have more children, previous anti-natalist measures, such as disincentives against the third child in school registration, were removed. These were replaced by new incentives designed to ease the burden of having a third child, such as tax rebates, childcare subsidies and the ability to use Medisave to cover the delivery costs of the first three children. Furthermore, parents who had given birth to a third child were given allocation priority if they wanted to upgrade to larger Housing and Development Board flats. To encourage employers to be more pro-family, the public service took the lead by offering part-time employment and extending no-pay childcare leave to mothers as well as unrecorded paid leave for them to look after their sick children below six years of age. In addition to these pro-natalist measures, compulsory counselling was imposed on women who were either planning for abortion or sterilisation.
Over the years, the government regularly strengthened these pro-natalist incentives marked by the increase in tax rebates and childcare subsidies to encourage parents to have more children. It also introduced new incentives, most notably the Baby Bonus Scheme in April 2001. Under this two-tier payment scheme, the government gives a cash gift to new parents, and makes a dollar-for-dollar matching contribution to the amount of savings made by new parents in a special account called the Child Development Account. Other pro-natalist incentives and measures introduced include childcare leave for working parents, a lower maid levy and implementation of a five-day work week to create a pro-family environment. Despite these measures, Singapore’s TFR continued to stay well below the replacement level of 2.1 children, averaging 1.9 from 1990 to 1999, 1.4 from 2000 to 2009 period, and 1.2 from 2010 to 2013.
Singapore’s first family planning campaign
Recognising the importance of family planning to national development, the government organised Singapore’s first national family planning campaign in 1960.1 The campaign aimed to raise public awareness on the need for family planning and the disadvantages of having large unplanned families. It also helped to direct the local populace to reliable sources for advice on family planning.
From 1949 to mid-1960s, family planning efforts in Singapore were led by a voluntary organisation known as the Singapore Family Planning Association (SFPA).2 With the urgent need to curb population growth, family planning subsequently became an issue of national concern.3
Hence in 1960, the government launched Singapore’s first national family planning campaign, which formed part of the Mass Health Education Programme. The three-month long family planning campaign began in November 1960.5 It aimed to educate the public on the importance of family planning and disadvantages of having large unplanned families.6 It also helped to direct those in need of family planning advice to sources available at clinics, hospitals and private dispensaries.
Singapore Family Planning & Population Board Is Established
The passing of the Singapore Family Planning and Population Board Act in December 1965 provided for the creation of a statutory authority to oversee family planning in Singapore and to execute the government’s Five-Year Family Planning Programme, 1966–1970. The Singapore Family Planning and Population Board (SFPPB) was officially inaugurated by then Minister for Health Yong Nyuk Lin on 12 January 1966.
The SFPPB took over the functions of the Singapore Family Planning Association (SFPA), a voluntary body that was set up in 1949 to introduce contraceptive education and services with the aim of improving the health and welfare of families, particularly mothers and their children. At the time, Singapore faced post-war food and housing shortages, which was compounded by unchecked population growth. The provision of family planning services, aimed to help parents plan their family size according to their means, was seen as part of the solution. However, with its limited resources, the SFPA struggled to meet the rising demand for family planning services. It appealed for the government to take over, especially since the bulk of its work was conducted in government maternal and child health centres.
A three-man review committee was subsequently appointed on 13 March 1965 to consider the proposed transfer of family planning activities from the SFPA to the Ministry of Health. In its report submitted on 29 June 1965, the committee recommended that the government assume responsibility for clinical work, research and publicity in the field of family planning from 1 October 1965. It also proposed adjustments to the annual grant given to the SFPA and sympathetic consideration on the employment of the association’s staff. Tabled in Parliament on 27 September 1965, the White Paper on Family Planning accepted the recommendations of the review committee save for the date of transfer which was deferred to 1 January 1966 to ensure a smooth handover.[10] The White Paper announced the National Five-Year Family Planning Programme and the establishment of a statutory board, the SFPPB, to implement the plan with the national target of recruiting 180,000 acceptors (individuals accepting family planning services) during the period 1966 to 1970.
Population planning in Singapore
In the 1960s the Singapore government encouraged women, especially uneducated women, to get sterilised following their second child
Population planning in Singapore has reflected various policies to both slow and boost the growth rate of Singapore's population. Singapore first began population planning initiatives in an attempt to slow and reverse the rapid increase in births that began after World War II. Later on, from the 1980s, policy was tailored towards growth, attempting to encourage mothers to have more children. In 2020, the annual total population growth rate in Singapore was -0.3%, and its resident total fertility rate (TFR) was 1.10, below the replacement rate of 2.1.
The first phase started with the launch of the Singapore Family Planning and Population Board in 1966 to aggressively promote family planning after Singapore faced "post-war food and housing shortages". SFPPB targeted low-socioeconomic status individuals, particularly females, and worked to encourage contraceptive use, such as condoms and birth control. The SFPPB advocated for small families, establishing the "Stop-at-Two" program, which encouraged and benefited two-children families and subsequent sterilisation . SFPPB also opened more clinics to better the health and welfare of families. Aside from encouraging small families, policies set in place by the government during the "Stop-at Two" era de-incentivized having more than two children; civil workers were not paid for maternity leave after their second child, children's hospital fees were higher for third and subsequent children, top school choices were given to only children with parents who had been sterilized before the age of 40, and sterilization itself was rewarded with seven days of paid leave.
The government program "Stop-at-Two" was successful in achieving limited growth but is also attributed to the initial decline of Singapore's population. Following the "Stop-at-Two" campaigns, population planning has taken the form of attempts to reverse falling birth rates. The Singaporean government eventually became pro-natalist, and officially announced its replacement "Have-Three-or-More (if you can afford it)" campaign in 1987, where the government began to encourage and incentivize larger families for financially-stable families. Additionally, the Social Development Unit (SDU) was established in 1984 to promote marriage and romance between educated individuals. This second phase of population planning has been unsuccessful at reaching and maintaining the replacement rate.
Singapore Population 1950-2023
Chart and table of Singapore population from 1950 to 2023. United Nations projections are also included through the year 2100:
- The current population of Singapore in 2023 is 6,014,723, a 0.65% increase from 2022.
- The population of Singapore in 2022 was 5,975,689, a 0.58% increase from 2021.
- The population of Singapore in 2021 was 5,941,060, a 0.53% increase from 2020.
- The population of Singapore in 2020 was 5,909,869, a 0.74% increase from 2019.
Singapore population hits 5.92m
Singapore’s total population hit a record 5.92 million, a 5 per cent increase from a year ago. The population rebounded from declines during the COVID-19 pandemic, and has since exceeded the 2019 population of 5.7 million.
"The total population of 5.92 million as at June 2023 is the highest recorded figure in Singapore’s history," said the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). The figures were published on Friday (Sep 29) in the annual Population in Brief report by the National Population and Talent Division, Prime Minister’s Office. Of the 5.92 million, there were 4.15 million residents and 1.77 million non-residents, which comprise the foreign workforce, dependants and international students.
Singapore citizens made up 3.61 million or 61 per cent of the total. This is a 1.6 per cent rise from last year. The permanent resident (PR) population increased by 3.7 per cent to 538,600 in June 2023. The report said that with the easing of travel restrictions related to COVID-19, more citizens and PRs living overseas returned to Singapore. This was the largest contributing factor to the increases in the citizen and PR populations.
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