Singapore grapples with aging population as birth rates plummet

The number of elderly Singaporean residents living alone in households more than doubled from 35,160 in 2013 to 78,135 in 2023, according to the Family Trends Report issued by the Ministry of Social and Family Development on Monday.

The number of residents aged 65 and above living in resident households increased from 413,117 in 2013 to 708,656 last year. More than 80 percent of the elderly people lived with their families.

People aged 65 and above accounted for 19.1 percent of the total citizens in Singapore as of last June.

Meanwhile, the resident total fertility rate decreased to 0.97 in 2023 from 1.19 in 2013, hitting a historic low, the report noted.

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Among ever-married resident females aged in their forties, those with no children rose from 10.0 percent in 2013 to 13.9 percent in 2023.

Singaporean couples also delayed their schedule to be parents. The median age of first-time fathers and mothers was 33.3 years and 31.6 years, respectively, last year, higher than the 32.7 years and 30.3 years in 2013.

The government has issued measures to help child-raising families, such as offering government-paid paternity leave to fathers, building more full-day infant care places, and providing subsidies for preschool education, the report added