Survey: Eight in 10 young singles want to marry

The desire to form families remains strong in Singapore, with about eight in 10 young singles indicating they want to marry, a recent Marriage and Parenthood survey found.

Although a majority of 80% of the singles aged 21 to 35 polled in the survey wanted to marry, the proportion has been declining over the years. In 2016, it was 83% and in 2012, it was 86%.

The results of the survey, conducted between February and June 2021, were released by the National Population and Talent Division yesterday.

Similar to the past, a majority of singles aged 21 to 45, or three-quarters of them, felt that having a career and raising a family were equally important, while 14% put family as a more important priority than career.

About 77% of the singles indicated that they wanted to have children.

In the survey, there were 2,848 singles – referring to those who had never been married – and 3,017 married respondents aged between 21 and 45 years old.

Of those who were married, a vast majority – 92% – indicated that they wanted to have two or more children, similar to the past surveys conducted in 2016 and 2012.

Despite this high proportion of respondents wanting to have children, half of the married respondents had one or no children.

The top three common reasons cited by married respondents who did not want to have more children were financial cost, already having enough children and the stress of raising children.

Money remains a key factor for those looking to have more children as well.

The top factor in determining whether or when to have more children among married respondents was feeling financially secure.

The 2021 survey data showed that marriage and parenthood aspirations among Singaporeans have stayed largely the same, although there have been some shifts in views such as perceptions of caregiving responsibility, and openness to dating apps.

Almost all (99%) married respondents agreed that fathers and mothers were equally important as caregivers to children, and 95% agreed that both parents should share equal responsibilities at home, same as the 2016 survey results. — The Straits Times/ANN