The Usual Place Podcast

National Day Rally 2026: Will $70k in support, more childcare leave get Singaporeans to have kids?

If you’ve been thinking about having kids, last night’s National Day Rally might have given you something to rally about.

Natasha Ann Zachariah

If you’ve been thinking about having kids, last night’s National Day Rally might have given you something to rally about.

Parents – and those who are considering having children – were the focus of Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s address on Aug 23.

In a nutshell, parents will get more help: more childcare leave and financial support, along with lower pre-school fees and more ballot chances when buying their first BTO flat.

But will this move the needle on our total fertility rate, which now stands at 0.87?

I ask Senior Parliamentary Secretary Goh Hanyan from the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth why the Government shifted its stance to now consider every child equally.

Reuben Ng, associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and a father of four, shared his thoughts on when the Government needs to roll out more measures for this reset to count.

Highlights (click/tap above):

2:17 Were the parenthood measures good enough?

6:56 Why tackle the cost concerns first?

12:15 Should mothers get medals for having more kids?

17:24 Why not taking leave is sometimes seen as a “badge of honour”

20:41 Hanyan’s experience juggling political office and being a mother of three

25:14 What about colleagues who cover parents on leave?

28:20 Are singles getting the short end of the stick?

33:41 Politically risky to invest so much public funds into parenting?

38:21 How fast does the Government need to roll out the measures?

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