The Government's annual Population In Brief Report, released earlier this week, reveals a measure of recovery from the demographic attrition caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Singapore's population grew by 3.4 per cent over the past year to reach 5.64 million in June, reversing two consecutive years of decline. Although the figure remained slightly below the 5.7 million recorded in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic struck, the uptick registers how Singapore is back on course to resume the population numbers necessary to sustain its economic growth. As a small city state, Singapore relies crucially on people as its key resource, making population numbers an existential issue in a way that they are not in larger and more populous countries. An under-populated Singapore would face questions of its very survival.

Two issues are of special concern: low fertility and ageing. The National Population and Talent Division under the Prime Minister's Office notes that an ageing population and a low fertility rate mean that larger groups of Singaporeans are entering their retirement years, while a smaller number is entering the workforce. It is important to ensure that there are sufficient working-age individuals to drive the economy and support an ageing population. In that context, it is reassuring that the resident total fertility rate (TFR) recovered slightly from the historic low of 1.1 in 2020 to 1.12 in 2021. However, that is still lower than the pre-coronavirus level of 1.14 in 2019. Indeed, the TFR has been declining generally for the past few decades, due largely to the rising proportion of singles, later marriages and married couples having fewer children.