INTRO TO POPULATION GROWTH IN THE 1950s - 1960s :
Looking at this table data , Singapore's fertility rate was very high in the 1950s and hence a high population. During the 1950s - 1960s , it was known as the year of baby-boom as Singapore's population grew by more than half a million. This led to unemployment, insufficient health care services, shortages of housing and even insufficient education. This was also due to the fact that there was not much family planning and hence leading to cases where couples bore more than 5 kids.
As the strait times from 26th January 2010 states "Past 5% annual growth will be difficult to sustain" and "Fewer babies for the first time in five years"
The Singapore's Planning Board.
The first family campaign
Due to the overpopulation in Singapore, the government realized the importance of family planning to the national development of Singapore. The campaign aimed to raise awareness of family planning and the disadvantages of large unplanned families, and to direct the populace to providers of family planning advice.
Significant efforts were made to bring the family planning message to the populace. Family planning posters were held up in public places of high visibility. Free pamphlets were being distributed out to the people and in addition, cartoon picture storybooks in four languages (English, Mandarin, Tamil and Malay) were being handed out to the people too. Family planning slogans were being distributed through local mails and all local cinemas. The following pictures below are an example of a poster that conveyed messages to the people in Singapore; To stop at two.
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Talks and forums were in various languages were organised at community centers and clubs. In addition, family planning exhibition was also held for the people to enhance the people's understanding of birth control. The exhibition theme focused on the need for family planning both for family and country. On the exhibit were displays of normal pregnancies and the hazards of too-frequent births and illegal abortions abortions.
Impact of the campaign
The campaign were surprisingly successful in raising awareness in family planning. More citizens and people in Singapore had a better knowledge of family planning and they were aware of the disadvantages that brought them if they had more than two children. Thus, the people began to be more cautious and heed the advice of the government.
(d)
Reasons for promoting population growth from the 1980s
1 . What led to the fall ?
Few of the reasons what led to the fall has to be the social trend , meaning , more women were being educated and focused more on work than marrying . Thus this is why the women wanted to marry later which usually leds to the low population growth in Singapore.
The another reasons are couples were deciding to have children much later and many opted to remain single , this is because there was more jobs created and a larger workforce was needed thus many people decided to work fast and marry later on . It is also because having children can be quite expensive and time consuming . These are the reasons which causes the down fall in the population growth .
2 . What were the reasons Singapore wanted to promote population growth?
If the population growth in Singapore is very low , there would be fewer men serving in the army which would then weaken Singapore's defence force . So Singapore needed population growth to ensure a strong defence force to protect Singapore .
If the population growth in Singapore is very low , there would be fewer young people in the workforce to support the large number of older people ( because as there is fewer younger people , the older people would be larger ) . This would face the country to face with an aging population which means that the country has to use more resources in order to take good care of the number of increasing senior citizens . So Singapore wanted to promote population growth so that there will be more younger people working in the workforce to provide and meet the needs the senior citizens.
If the population growth in Singapoe is very low , it will be unattractive to multinational companies as Singapore will create a smaller consumer market for other national companies to invest in . Also , Singapore would not be able to produce enough talented people to sustain the development . So Singapore wanted to promote population growth as to attract more multinational companies around the world to help grow Singapore's consumer market so that another companies will invest in it .
Overall , the reason is because Singapore's economy will weaken causing the administration to suffer which the society will delince.
(e)Measures to promote population growth in Singapore
One measure is the " Graduate Mother Scheme "Reseach has shown that parents who were university graduates were more likely to have children so performed better in schools so the government introduced the " Graduate Mothers Scheme " hoping that the female graduates will be encouraged marriages and to have more children so that there would be a higher chance of the future generation of workforce being more educated .
Another measure is the government introducing the " three or more if you can afford it " policy. This was to encourage couples to have more children to help in the population growth in Singapore . Knowing having children can be quite expensive , the government introduced another measures like allowing the use of Medisave to pay for the delivery charges of the first three children .
There was also other pro-family measures .There was equalised medical benefits , granfparent caregiver relief which meant there would be a income tax relief of $3,000 if a grandparent is helping the couple to take care of the child . There was 5 day week for the civil service to allow better work and life balance , lastly there was extended maternity leave from eight up to 12 weeks for mothers to stay home to reast and take care of the baby ,
Overall , the reason is because Singapore's economy will weaken causing the administration to suffer which the society will delince.
(e)Measures to promote population growth in Singapore
One measure is the " Graduate Mother Scheme "Reseach has shown that parents who were university graduates were more likely to have children so performed better in schools so the government introduced the " Graduate Mothers Scheme " hoping that the female graduates will be encouraged marriages and to have more children so that there would be a higher chance of the future generation of workforce being more educated .
Another measure is the government introducing the " three or more if you can afford it " policy. This was to encourage couples to have more children to help in the population growth in Singapore . Knowing having children can be quite expensive , the government introduced another measures like allowing the use of Medisave to pay for the delivery charges of the first three children .
There was also other pro-family measures .There was equalised medical benefits , granfparent caregiver relief which meant there would be a income tax relief of $3,000 if a grandparent is helping the couple to take care of the child . There was 5 day week for the civil service to allow better work and life balance , lastly there was extended maternity leave from eight up to 12 weeks for mothers to stay home to reast and take care of the baby ,
Conclusion: Has Singapore been successful in promoting population growth?
No, Singapore has not been successful in promoting population growth. Even though the offers made by the government to promote population growth were tempting, the people in Singapore had still not been willing enough to bear a child. The reason could be because of the modern mindset of young adults nowadays. They would want to settle entirely before bearing a child in which could take a long period of time. The reason could also be because of the schemes not being entirely popular with 'all' the people in Singapore. Everyone has their own perspective point of views towards the schemes offered by the government.
The bitter truth is, not everyone would like the ideas of the government. Everyone has their own judgments. Thus, I think it is because of the two following reasons that might have resisted the effectiveness of the governments' schemes.
No, Singapore has not been successful in promoting population growth. Even though the offers made by the government to promote population growth were tempting, the people in Singapore had still not been willing enough to bear a child. The reason could be because of the modern mindset of young adults nowadays. They would want to settle entirely before bearing a child in which could take a long period of time. The reason could also be because of the schemes not being entirely popular with 'all' the people in Singapore. Everyone has their own perspective point of views towards the schemes offered by the government.
The bitter truth is, not everyone would like the ideas of the government. Everyone has their own judgments. Thus, I think it is because of the two following reasons that might have resisted the effectiveness of the governments' schemes.
| Average population (in thousands) | Live births | Deaths | Natural change | Crude birth rate (per 1000) | Crude death rate (per 1000) | Natural change (per 1000) | Total fertility rate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 45.934 | 10.717 | 35.217 | 22.1 | 5.2 | 16.9 | 3,07 | |
| 1980 | 41.217 | 12.505 | 28.712 | 17.6 | 4.9 | 12.7 | 1.82 | |
| 1990 | 3.047,1 | 51.142 | 13.891 | 37.251 | 18.2 | 4.7 | 13.5 | 1.83 |
| 2000 | 4.027,9 | 46.997 | 15.693 | 31.304 | 13.7 | 4.5 | 9.2 | 1.60 |
| 2010 | 5.076,7 | 37.967 | 17.610 | 20.357 | 9.3 | 4.4 | 4.9 | 1.15 |
| 2011 | 5.183,7 | 39.654 | 18.027 | 21.627 | 9.5 | 4.5 | 5.0 | 1.20 |
| 2012 | 5.312,4 | 1.29 | ||||||
| 2013 | 1.19 |
The data board clearly shows that the total fertility rate had not been fruitful and since 2012, the fertility rate has decreased relatively. Hence, it shows that the Singapore has not been successful in promoting population growth.
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