Help package to boost birth rate out next year: Minister
Measures will address childcare, housing and other needs
Purchase this article for republication
Buy SPH photos
A comprehensive package of measures to encourage Singaporeans to marry and have babies, by addressing housing, childcare and other needs, is expected to be announced early next year.
More details will be given around the time the Government issues a White Paper on population in January, Acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Chan Chun Sing revealed in an interview.
The package is the latest effort in an ongoing national push to raise Singapore's birth rate, which at 1.2 is far below the replacement figure of 2.1 needed to prevent the citizen population from shrinking.
At the National Day Rally in August, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had outlined some of the measures being studied to encourage parenthood.
