Declining fertility a global challenge that no one has answers to, but efforts still worth it: PM Wong
Asked whether a new population planning parameter is on the cards, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said there is no new figure and the goal is to “maintain stability and to avoid population decline”.
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SINGAPORE: Declining fertility is a challenge facing countries all over the world, with no ready solution to address it, said Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Monday (Jun 8). However, efforts to deal with the issue are still worth pursuing, he said.
“It's a global challenge. It's happening everywhere in the world. No one has the answers for now,” said Mr Wong, during a session of the Singapore Press Club’s Eminent Speaker Series.
He noted that people once thought declining birth rates happen only when a country reaches a certain level of income, which is why it was believed it happened more with affluent societies.
“But nowadays you look around the world, even developing countries are having declining birth rates below replacement levels,” he said.
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Mr Wong said that countries have put in “a lot of resources to try and stop the decline and to encourage marriage and parenthood, but there has been no enduring success”. Some countries have temporarily succeeded in boosting birth rates, but the numbers eventually come back down, he said.
Singapore’s total fertility rate had dropped to a new low of 0.87 last year.
Mr Wong said that the Singapore government has not given up and is still trying to work on the issue, with a new workgroup led by Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Indranee Rajah.
The approach is to think about it “less as a procreation incentive, less of a baby bonus” for couples, and instead look at what more can be done to create a family-friendly environment in Singapore, such as addressing young parents’ concerns around education, childcare and housing, he said.
“At the end of the day after doing that, I may not get more babies, but it's still worth doing,” he said.
“That's our approach: Try to make things better for families in Singapore. Because families are a key pillar of our society, and we want Singapore to be a place that's friendly and conducive for families to thrive and flourish.”
Among the questions fielded by Mr Wong in the session at the SPH Media news centre’s auditorium in Toa Payoh was whether an updated population white paper with a new population planning parameter is on the cards.
In response, Mr Wong, who is also Finance Minister, said “it's not so much about articulating a new figure or what that figure might be, because even for the old figure, we are a long way from getting there”.
“The old figure was 6.9 (million). We are far away from getting there. So there is no new figure to be updated, because our population will just grow at a much slower rate than before, and we are just trying to maintain stability and to avoid population decline,” he said.
SINGAPORE IS AN OPEN SOCIETY
Mr Wong said that due to the realities of Singapore’s fertility rates, the country has to remain open as a society to having more foreigners come here for work, albeit with some limitations in place.
“We should then have some of them who share our values and way of life to become Singaporeans, just as many of us, all of us in fact, trace our roots not just here, but trace our roots to countries further afield,” he said.
However, while Singapore maintains that posture as an open society and an immigrant nation, “certainly we will control the flows”, said Mr Wong.
The aim is not to raise the population to a “very high figure at all”, but is instead about “maintaining stability” for Singapore, he reiterated.
Mr Wong noted that this immigrant question links back to the issue of technology and artificial intelligence (AI).
“If we are not going to be able to have that many new immigrants, new arrivals, that access to people, then all the more we need to harness technology well in order to do the things we want to do, and to become more productive,” he said.
Earlier in the dialogue, Mr Wong was asked whether small states like Singapore are better or worse off in the AI age.
To this, Mr Wong said AI can be a “game changer”.
“Overall we see this as positive, because we can harness AI well to really transform processes and operations to become far more productive, and in a city like Singapore, where we are always labour short,” he said.
“We talk to companies and employers, they are always looking for people, and we cannot afford to just keep importing labour. We need to be more productive. I think AI can be a game changer.”
On Monday, Mr Wong also responded to a question on whether a Cabinet reshuffle was on the cards, saying that he is always thinking about how to strengthen his team, and that the Cabinet composition is “never a finished product”.
Factors he considers include which Cabinet member can be better deployed into different roles, who could be brought into political office from the backbenches, and also about “recruiting for the next round”.
“It's always on my mind, and when I have any updates, I'll be sure to share them with Singaporeans in due course,” he said.
ERA OF DISINFORMATION AND FALSEHOODS
As for the recent blocking of social media content that targeted the Indian community here in Singapore, Mr Wong noted that it is “very concerning”.
“AI and technology are also enabling the creation of more disinformation and falsehoods, some of it very egregious and crosses the line,” he said, adding that this current reality is unavoidable.
“Unfortunately, it's not just Singapore alone. Every country is facing this problem, and we see in so many places where, when it's harder and harder to differentiate between fact and fiction or even to agree on a basic set of facts, then it's impossible to hold a society together,” said Mr Wong.
He said that the government will continue to step up defences and safeguards in Singapore, and also called on the news industry to play its part in building “a trusted media ecosystem”.
“We want media outlets to operate here in Singapore in a way that's trusted and responsible, where you inform citizens, you build trust, you create space for serious conversations and discourse on issues that matter to Singapore, and you ultimately help us contribute to Singapore's long-term success,” said Mr Wong.
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