Nearly half of the eligible families who welcomed their first baby over the last two years have made full use of their Child Development Accounts (CDAs) - putting in the $3,000 needed to get a matching grant from the Government.

A Ministry of Social and Family Development spokesman told The Straits Times that 42.1 per cent of firstborns since 2016 - the First Step grant was started in late March that year - have hit the maximum government matching contribution. For the second child, the figure is 35.8 per cent, and it is 10.9 per cent for the third, 4.8 per cent for the fourth, and 1.2 per cent for the fifth child and beyond.