SINGAPORE — Singapore’s struggle to get more people to marry and have children is moving into a new phase, with marriage, parenthood and the rising pressures of family life expected to take centre stage at Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s 2026 National Day Rally on Aug. 23.
But this year’s discussion is shaping up to be about more than simply encouraging Singaporeans to have more babies.
Instead, analysts expect the Government to address a much broader question: How can Singapore make marriage and parenthood more compatible with the way people actually want to live, work and build their futures?
Mr Wong has already signalled that a “major review” of family support is underway, covering not only the point at which couples marry and have children but the wider journey of raising a family. He said the Rally would provide more details on measures aimed at easing the costs and pressures of raising children.
Singapore’s fertility rate has fallen to a new low
The urgency is clear.
Singapore’s resident total fertility rate fell to 0.87 in 2025, down from 0.97 in 2024 — a new low for the country. The figure has placed renewed attention on whether existing policies are sufficient to persuade more Singaporeans to form families.
The challenge is not simply about the number of babies being born.
Government data shows that Singaporeans are also marrying later. In 2024, the median age at first marriage was 30.8 for citizen grooms and 29.1 for citizen brides, compared with 30.1 and 27.9 respectively a decade earlier. There were also 22,955 citizen marriages in 2024, down 5.7 per cent from 2023.
At the same time, Singapore recorded 29,237 citizen births in 2024, a 1.2 per cent increase from the previous year — but the five-year average remained below that of the preceding five-year period.
The Government is already moving before the full review is finished
The coming Rally is not the beginning of the policy reset.
In April, the Government established a Marriage & Parenthood Reset Workgroup, chaired by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Indranee Rajah, to develop a broader, whole-of-society approach to supporting marriage and parenthood.
The workgroup is looking beyond government benefits alone, recognising that family decisions are influenced by social attitudes, workplace practices, caregiving responsibilities, housing and other conditions surrounding family life.
CNA reported on Aug. 15 that the Government would bring forward some measures instead of waiting for the workgroup’s complete report, after engagements with Singaporeans identified areas where there was already a clear consensus about the difficulties families face. Indranee said the National Day Rally announcements would represent the “first wave” of measures, with more expected later.
That means Sunday’s announcements could be only the beginning of a much larger policy shift.
From baby bonuses to the everyday cost of raising children
Singapore already has one of Asia’s most extensive packages of marriage and parenthood support.
Current measures include housing assistance, healthcare support, the Baby Bonus Scheme, parental leave, subsidised infant and childcare services, and the Large Families Scheme.
The Government introduced the Large Families Scheme in 2025, providing up to S$16,000 in additional support for each third or subsequent Singapore Citizen child born on or after Feb. 18, 2025.
The Finance Ministry said in May that a family with three children can receive more than S$100,000 in direct government support, regardless of income, in addition to subsidies for preschool, education and healthcare.
Yet policymakers increasingly recognise that financial incentives alone may not resolve the problem.
The costs involved in raising children are only one part of the equation. Parents also have to navigate childcare, work demands, caregiving, housing, career progression and the expectations surrounding what it means to be a “good” parent.
Childcare could become part of Singapore’s wider social infrastructure
This is one area analysts believe could receive greater attention.
Institute of Policy Studies senior research fellow Kalpana Vignehsa told The Straits Times that the Government’s broader review could involve thinking about childcare as social infrastructure, rather than treating it primarily as a private responsibility for individual families.
The reasoning is straightforward: childcare affects whether parents can remain in the workforce and how much caregiving pressure falls on families themselves.
That could signal a broader change in how Singapore approaches family policy — from providing financial incentives after a child is born to reducing the practical obstacles that make parenthood difficult in the first place.
More parental leave is already on the way
The Government has also been expanding support for parents’ time with their children.
From April 2026, parents are entitled to 10 weeks of Shared Parental Leave, on top of maternity and paternity leave, according to a February parliamentary reply by Indranee. The Government has also been expanding practical support around pregnancy, childbirth and the early years of parenting.
These measures point toward a policy approach increasingly focused on helping parents manage the realities of family life — not merely reducing the headline cost of having a child.
The bigger issue: Singapore’s social contract
Analysts say the family debate also sits within a much larger conversation about Singapore’s future.
Singapore faces an ageing population, a shrinking pool of potential parents and continued pressure on the workforce. At the same time, the country is dealing with rapid technological change, including artificial intelligence, as well as questions surrounding immigration and social cohesion.
SMU associate professor of law Eugene Tan told The Straits Times that the persistently low fertility rate remains a major long-term challenge and that the Government’s decision to highlight family formation at its most important annual political speech signals that building a strong Singaporean core remains a priority.
But the policy challenge is delicate.
Singapore cannot simply tell younger people to marry earlier or have more children. Marriage and parenthood are personal decisions, and official population data acknowledges that younger Singaporeans increasingly place other life goals alongside — or ahead of — family formation.
The emerging policy question, therefore, is not simply:
“How do we get Singaporeans to have more babies?”
It is increasingly:
“How do we build a society where having the family people want is realistically achievable?”
That distinction could define the next chapter of Singapore’s population and family policies.
What to watch at the 2026 National Day Rally
Mr Wong is scheduled to deliver his National Day Rally speech on Aug. 23 at ITE College Central in Ang Mo Kio. He will speak first in Malay, followed by Mandarin, before delivering his English speech at 8pm.
Among the key issues to watch are:
- Whether new measures will directly reduce the cost of raising children.
- Whether childcare and infant-care support will be expanded.
- Whether the Government will introduce additional help for working parents.
- Whether housing policies will be adjusted to help younger couples form families earlier.
- Whether further parental-leave or caregiving reforms are announced.
- How the Government plans to balance family aspirations with changing lifestyles and workplace realities.
- Whether Sunday’s measures are only the first stage of a much larger Marriage & Parenthood Reset.
For Singapore, the stakes extend well beyond this year’s birth statistics.
The country is now confronting a difficult demographic reality: fewer people are marrying, those who marry are doing so later, and the fertility rate has fallen below one child per resident woman.
The question is whether a new generation of policies can change that trajectory — not by pressuring Singaporeans into parenthood, but by making family life easier to choose.
And with the Government promising more details on Aug. 23, the biggest question may not be whether Singapore will change its family policies — but just how far this “reset” will go.
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