Singapore’s great baby drought: Rising share of women just preferring to stay single

Women aged between 21 and 34 were significantly less interested in marriage and parenthood than men in their age group. - ST PHOTO: CHONG JUN LIANG

SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/ANN): The growing share of women remaining single is one major reason for Singapore’s longstanding baby drought, with the resident total fertility rate (TFR) falling to below 1 in 2023 for the first time in Singapore’s history.

A Department of Statistics (DOS) analysis of the factors behind the falling TFR found that the drop in the TFR between 2005 and 2023 was due to a decline in the proportion of married women, which offset slight increases in the fertility rate of married women.