Causes of low fertility rate

The govt is complaining about low fertility rate of Singaporeans. One way to overcome this is to send them to the animal farm and learn from those with 4 legs, and fertility rate guarantees to go up. The life style of animals is simply to eat, sleep and have sex, as and when please. Now, that would be a wonderful way to live if human beans can afford to do so.

Human beans are not just animals and have many preoccupations and pursuits in life. That doesn’t mean that they will be less productive. What then are the causes of low fertility rate?

1. Spending too much time trying to get an education.
2. Spending too much time trying to earn money to pay back the loans.
3. Spending too much time trying to make enough money to buy a decent place to put in a family.
4. Spending too much time worrying got money to support a family and children.
5. Spending too much time worrying where to put a maid in a 3 or 4 rm flat.

Do govt policies help or hinder the procreation instinct of the people? Many worry if they can afford to start a family when buying a home is going to leave them with nothing much to spare. A 3 or 4 rm flat is just too small for a family of 4, or worst with parents and a maid. With both spouses working, a maid becomes a necessity and needs a place to sleep. With school going children, a car becomes a necessity to bring the children around. And school transportation is not cheap.

And these are only the few basic things that are essential to starting a family. Basically, the cost is just too prohibitive. It is no longer eat and sleep, have sex and live off the land. The stress to survive and live better is burning out the virility of the young people.

The govt policies on housing, transportation, cost of living, education and paper chase, and the competition from foreigners, etc etc, all becomes hindrance to procreation and starting a family. Bet the govt does not have a clue that they are the biggest problem to procreation and low fertility rate.

Why all the screaming for higher fertility rate? Actually it has nothing to do with raising fertility rate, unless they are bringing in the studs. What is the real agenda? The low fertility problem is endemic in the system.


Anonymous said...

Dear Mr Chua
I completely agree with you.

If people are feeling happy and secure, they will naturally want to marry and have children.

Do Singaporeans feel happy?

Do Singaporeans feel secure about their jobs and financial future?

If I were God.
and the KPI was the fertility rate.
I would have replaced a certain group of people a long time ago.

notanotherspinstory said...

Four legs gooood, two legs baaaaaad!

Anonymous said...


Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

The above report also said that children are inferior goods. No wonder many find substitutions in higher value goods, like pedigree dogs, to replace the fun with having children.

Maybe if we stop offering this substitute, no pet dogs for sale, people may have no choice but to try to have more children.

whitebean said...

I completely agree with you it is the Government's fault. In fact you could also blame the government if your wife refuse to have sex with you because it is the govt who make your wife so stressed in the first place. Or if you fail to get your promotion or clients because it is the FTs again. In fact one can virtually blame everything on the govt. The sad thing is, the 60-70% of the population will continue to vote for them.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Hi whitebean, welcome to the blog.

Yes, we can blame the govt, but we need to support with reasons.

The high cost of living, the housing policies and the rat race, are serious factors that affect family life. No one wants to bring children to live in a small little flat, and spend $1m each by the time they are independent.

I can see how difficult it is for those without private transport to ferry the kids to schools, to in laws, to childcare etc etc. And with both parents working, no maids is just too difficult without compromising on family life and the care for the children.

The thinking parents to be will be in a fixed unless they are pretty comfortable financially.

It is no longer a let them live and survive on their own like the past generations.

Anonymous said...

If we want to blame the govt, why should we support with reasons? Our reasons will never win the argument, because our reasons are always based on emotions and are simple reasons, rather than facts and tradeoffs.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

We may be the lunatic fringes, but we do not want to behave like the supertalents and argue with twisted and self serving logics. We have to maintain some reasonableness to be taken seriously.

If we can sneer at the self serving logics and fork tongues, people will also lose faith in what we say if we behave the same way.

We need to maintain some credibility of our own.

Anonymous said...

We are being SOLD by our own Government of the day!

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Someone may say, prove it, or I sue you. Cannot anyhow accuse people or govt of things they didn't do.

We can only ask questions and think of different scenarios and possibilities.

Anonymous said...

Mr red bean, you forgot to mention the mystery of education.

I have 2 primary school going children, the teachers are not able to cover syllabus anymore(not their fault), there is a huge gap between the exam questions and what is taught in school.

Many parents are sending their kids for tuitions just to keep them afloat. One child may need about $140 x 4 per month tuition fee if they need tuitions for all 4 subjects.

Of cause the premium tuition centre may charge more. $$ is NOT the only issue. We lament the lost of their childhood !!

My kids are spending a lot of time on their home work and revising for exam just to keep afloat. .

Seeing the way they suffered, I would think very hard to consider another child...