Singapore's birth numbers last year similar to 2020, higher than expected

Singapore's total fertility rate rose slightly to 1.12 last year, up from the historic low of 1.1 in 2020. - ST

SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): Singapore's birth numbers at around 34,200 last year are similar to 2020, defying expectations of a bigger fall amid the pandemic, said Minister in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Indranee Rajah on Wednesday (March 2).

"While it was 3 per cent lower than in 2019 before Covid struck, the fall was less than we had feared," she said in Parliament in response to MPs such as Gan Thiam Poh (Ang Mo Kio GRC), Ng Ling Ling (Ang Mo Kio GRC) and Cheng Li Hui (Tampines GRC) who had filed questions about population matters.