Fertility is not a ‘single problem’

In a commentary, Prof Euston Quah from NTU and Dr Eugene Or from SUSS write that Singapore's baby drought deepened to a historic low in 2025, with its resident total fertility rate falling to 0.87 children per woman. They point out that there is no single barrier to fertility and that fertility is a mosaic of decisions shaped by preferences, perceptions, constraints and experiences. A one-dimensional policy response fixated largely on economic incentives, as in Singapore, misses the complexity of the issue. If the causes are diverse, the solutions must be too. At the same time, as Singapore leans on immigration to sustain its economy, integration cannot be an afterthought. A cohesive society must be built deliberately through shared effort and mutual adaptation.

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