Singapore’s resident total fertility rate fell below 1 for the first time in its history, to 0.97 in 2023.
The spokeswoman said of its analysis: “It does not analyse the socio-economic, cultural or biological determinants of fertility trends.” found that the growing proportion of women remaining single was one major reason for the drop in the TFR between 2005 and 2023.Between 1990 and 2005, the decline in the fertility rate of married women contributed more to the drop in the TFR than the fall in the proportion of married women.
“Furthermore, it’s worth noting that instead of counting the number of babies born to all women of child-bearing age, the DOS chose to count the number of babies born only to married women. In making this choice, they also had to then factor in the percentage of women getting married into their equation, to calculate the TFR. Given their choice of equation, their analysis applied a sexist lens to the results, blaming the falling TFR on the falling percentage of women getting married,” she said.