Not many people would have been surprised by the report on births here (Number of babies born here drops to 8-year low, July 22).

This phenomenon is not new. Several factors were cited for this new low. Young people are putting their careers first, dating later, and getting married and having children even later. Some may even marry past 35 years old, which is often cited as an age of concern for childbearing.

The age of the mother has also been associated with the rise in the number of special needs children in some studies.

We will then be hit by both a large greying population as well as an increase in special needs children in the population.

A comprehensive review is thus timely to examine and rectify societal norms before our demography becomes economically unviable.

It is controversial to encourage dating in teenage years. Many parents would frown upon it.

However, we can help young people to socialise more and to remember their childhood friends while they are still in school.

With more friends on the social radar, it may make finding the right one to date a little easier.

New schemes can be introduced to help companies facilitate socialising in the workplace.

Staff evaluation could consider whether the employee is married with children. With the knowledge that the company is more understanding towards those with a young family, the younger generation will be more positive towards settling down and starting a family earlier rather than later.

Medical technology such as egg freezing should be encouraged among younger women to ensure that the quality of the egg is preserved should they decide to conceive later or should they have difficulties finding the right person to marry.

There may be many concerns with such technology, but laws, rules, guidelines and protocols can always be set to regulate the use of the harvested egg.

Licences may be issued only to public healthcare institutions to allay any concerns of abuse from the conservative public.

There are many more areas to improve on before we can see the younger generation taking the bold step to start a family when they are young.

For the sake of the future generation and the rapidly greying population, we have to adopt bold and drastic measures to stem the slide in our population growth.

Leong Choon Kit (Dr)