SINGAPORE - Singapore's preliminary resident birth numbers at around 34,200 last year are similar to 2020, defying expectations of a bigger fall amid the pandemic, said Minister in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Indranee Rajah on Wednesday (March 2).

"While it was 3 per cent lower than in 2019 before Covid-19 struck, the fall was less than we had feared," she said in Parliament in response to MPs such as Mr Gan Thiam Poh (Ang Mo Kio GRC), Ms Ng Ling Ling (Ang Mo Kio GRC) and Ms Cheng Li Hui (Tampines GRC) who had filed questions about population matters.

Ms Indranee, who oversees the National Population and Talent Division (NPTD) under the PMO, said while the birth numbers were constant, Singapore's total fertility rate (TFR) rose slightly to 1.12 last year, up from the historic low of 1.1 in 2020.

She explained that the TFR - a measure of births per female of childbearing age - had increased because the number of such females had gone down.

Marriage and parenthood aspirations remain high, she said, citing results from NPTD's latest survey of about 6,000 respondents last year. The poll showed that eight in 10 young singles hope to get married and have children, and over nine in 10 married Singaporeans want at least two children.

"We will redouble our efforts to support Singaporeans who choose to get married and have children," said Ms Indranee, adding that the Government is reviewing its marriage and parenthood measures, on top of existing support in areas such as education in the early years and housing.

So far, parents of more than 44,000 babies have received the Baby Support Grant, she said. The grant gives parents $3,000 if their newborn child's date of birth or estimated delivery date is from Oct 1, 2020, to Sept 30, 2022.

Up to 23,000 new Build-To-Order flats a year in 2022 and 2023 will be launched, as many couples aspire to have their own homes before starting families, she added.

Ms Indranee said that new funding support for certain types of pre-implantation genetic testing will be introduced for Singaporean couples to address concerns about genetically transmitted diseases. More details will be announced later, she said.

Mr Louis Ng (Nee Soon GRC) suggested providing childcare sick leave for all working parents - apart from having flexible work arrangements (FWAs) - and giving incentives to employers to increase paternity leave usage, particularly among lower-income workers.

In response, Ms Indranee said the Government will consider his feedback for more parental leave provisions and work with employers to increase the take-up of parental leave, while bearing in mind companies' manpower and operational needs.

The Government will also work with employers to implement FWAs that will help people manage work and parenting commitments, she said.

More details will be shared in the White Paper on Singapore Women's Development, which will be tabled in Parliament this year, she added.

"Work from home (WFH) is only one type of FWA. Not all job types are suitable for WFH, but all job types can accommodate some form of FWA, depending on the nature of the job. Other forms of FWAs include flexi-time and flexi-load arrangements," she said.

"Every organisation, big or small, can consider adopting the FWAs that best suit their employees' needs and their business operations," Ms Indranee added, citing Singtel's provision of five days of "flexi family leave" for birthdays, childcare, adoption and family emergencies.

"Adopting FWAs and prioritising employee well-being is not only good for workers and consequently for families; in the post-pandemic world this is going to be the key to firms' competitiveness, productivity, and ability to recruit and retain talent," she said.

On immigration, Ms Indranee said that Singapore takes in a carefully controlled number of new citizens and permanent residents each year, to moderate the impact of low birth rates and ageing.

Giving an update, she said there were about 21,500 new citizens last year. These include about 1,200 children born overseas to Singaporean parents.

About 33,400 people were given permanent resident status last year.

Ms Indranee said these numbers are similar to pre-Covid-19 levels, and higher when compared to 2020, due to the easing of travel restrictions and safe management measures, which previously slowed down in-person processes in the applications for citizenship or permanent residency.

Moving on with life during a pandemic

First, renovations for their Housing Board flat were postponed by about three months because of the circuit breaker that took effect in April 2020.

Then Mr Gerard Robert, 37, and Ms Jessica Anne Tay, 27, had to make the difficult decision to postpone their wedding, which was originally planned for July 2020, due to the safe management measures then.

They finally tied the knot in January last year, with about 100 family members and friends attending the church ceremony in-person, and others tuning in online.

"We were quite determined to get married, no matter what happens with Covid-19. We just wanted to move on with life," said Mr Robert, a church youth worker.

Since then, he and Ms Tay, a digital engagement and marketing specialist, have moved into their own resale flat in Hougang and welcomed a baby boy into their lives last month.

"We knew we always wanted to have kids, and as Catholics, having children is a result of our love for each other," said Mr Robert.

It is a bonus to receive financial grants from the Government, he said, but these did not affect or change the decision to have a child.

"The financial support is good to have, especially with inflation, GST and the cost of living going up. It will help us to alleviate the cost of having a child, because it can be quite pricey," he added.

As new parents, having supportive employers, more paternity and childcare leave would help, he said.

"The two weeks of paternity leave is not enough, and it's the main challenge for most of my guy friends, because they can't help their wives beyond a certain level," he said. "So they tend to stop at one kid because it's just too challenging."

Mr Robert also hopes for more infant care places, as he and his wife will continue working. "All the infant care spots near our place are full, and some of them have wait lists until next year, so the nearest centre we could find was a little farther away," he said.

"We see both work and having children as parallel lines that grow alongside each other. But we do have friends who see both as stages of their lives, hence they prefer to focus on their work life first before having kids," he added.

"Some friends have also postponed having children because of the delay in getting their Build-To-Order flats."