Singapore has overhauled its baby bonus scheme. Will it work to boost birth rates this time?

Singapore is overhauling its landmark baby bonus scheme, first introduced in 2001, as the city’s fertility rate and number of births fall to record lows. 

In 2025, births in the Southeast Asian country fell below 30,000 for the first time in its post-independence history, while the fertility rate dropped to just 0.87 per woman, a record low. That’s a dangerous prospect for any country, but especially for Singapore, crammed into a space smaller than New York City.

“The country does not have the natural resources to finance the costs of supporting an aged society, including both care and medical expenditures,” Tan Poh Lin, a senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Institute for Policy Studies explains. Immigration, in his view, won’t be enough to solve the problem: “Boosting the fertility rate is crucial to slow down the rate of change and allow society to adjust economically and well as institutionally.”

At the country’s National Day Rally on Aug. 23, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong unveiled the “SG Child Support Package,” boasting measures like expanded childcare leave, strong financial support for parents, more affordable caregiving options, and extra chances to get subsidized housing. In total, the support is equal to almost 70,000 Singapore dollars ($55,000) by the time a child is 17.

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