S'poreans put off marriage, parenthood plans

Fewer marital unions and births took place in Singapore last year as some Singaporeans postponed their marriage and parenthood plans due to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a government report released yesterday.

There were 19,430 citizen marriages last year, down 12.3 per cent from 22,165 in 2019. This number is at its lowest since 1986, when there were 19,348 marriages.

The report, published by the National Population and Talent Division (NPTD), said pandemic restrictions on large gatherings in the past year could have led couples to defer their marriages.

On a quarterly basis, the largest decline in numbers from 2019 was seen in the second quarter of last year, when in-person solemnisations had to be postponed during the circuit breaker period from April 7 to June 1. There were around 2,200 marriages in that quarter, down from 4,800 the previous year.

There was an uptick in the fourth quarter of last year - around 7,700 marriages compared with 6,900 in 2019 - when restrictions were eased to allow for more attendees at solemnisations and receptions.

The number of transnational marriages - between a citizen and a non-citizen - also fell to 30 per cent as a proportion of citizen marriages, down from 37 per cent in 2019 and to its lowest since 1997.

This decrease may have been partly due to Covid-19-related travel restrictions, said the report, noting that from late March last year, all non-residents required entry approval to enter Singapore.

And although video-link solemnisations were an option from mid-May last year onwards, both parties still needed to be physically in Singapore.

Meanwhile the number of citizen births dropped 3.1 per cent to 31,816 last year, from 32,844 in 2019.

The report said a similar decrease in births was also ob-served elsewhere last year and could reflect how pandemic-related uncertainties affected parenthood decisions.

"While this could have contributed to the lower number of citizen births in 2020, most of the births in 2020 would have been conceived prior to the pandemic, and the full impact of the Covid-19 pandemic remains to be seen," it added.

Babies born in the fourth quarter of last year, however, would have been conceived around the start of the pandemic in Singapore in February.

The lower number of births here - around 8,000 - compared with the same period in 2019 (around 8,700) suggests that some couples may have postponed parenthood plans due to the pandemic.

Singapore's resident total fertility rate (TFR) also remained below replacement rate, decreasing from 1.14 in 2019 to 1.1 last year.

Among the ethnic groups in Singapore, only the Malays' TFR increased from 1.8 in 2019 to 1.82 last year. The TFR declined from the previous year for both Indians (from 0.98 to 0.96) and Chinese (from 0.99 to 0.94).

The report said Singapore's low overall TFR was partly due to a general trend of later marriages and child-bearing.

Last year, the median age at first marriage was 30.1 for citizen grooms and 28.4 for citizen brides, while the median age of citizen mothers at the birth of their first child was 30.8 years - similar to the figures for 2019.

Assistant finance manager Jeremy Gan, 29, and Ms Lim Dingyi, 27, an executive in an institute of higher learning, were married in May last year, in the midst of the circuit breaker period.

They had to ditch plans for a grand banquet with 300 guests, opting for an intimate ceremony featuring video-link solemni-sation instead.

"What actually pushed us to do it was the uncertainty involved - there was a risk of our wedding being postponed indefinitely," said Mr Gan. "We wanted to just get it done, and not have new rules and restrictions down the road making it difficult for us, our parents and our guests."

Ms Ashwathy Menon, 33, who works in finance, recently gave birth to a baby boy on Sept 11.

She and her husband, Mr Mohamed Faizal, 33, a teacher, already have a four-year-old daughter. They went ahead with their plans to grow their family, undeterred by the pandemic.

"With all the restrictions now, it is actually a good time because you can focus more time on nurturing your kids," said Ms Menon. "If not for Covid-19, you might be busy travelling and end up delaying plans to have children."

The report also noted that the Government had introduced a $3,000 Baby Support Grant last year to encourage couples in Singapore to proceed with their parenthood plans.

Couples with citizen children born from Oct 1 last year to Sept 30 next year will be eligible for this one-off incentive, which supplements the existing Baby Bonus cash gift of up to $10,000.