Birth rate

Supportive workplaces key to fathers taking full paternity leave, as uptake in Singapore rises

38-year-old Imdadulla Syed Shahid, a father, took nearly two months off work to be there for his wife and newborn daughter when she was born in January.

The panic over birth rates has a blind spot

South Korean singles look for their dream match at Buddhist temple retreat

Participants walk through the grounds of Naksansa temple during a Buddhist temple matchmaking programme.

Bhutan battles ‘existential’ population crisis with birth drive

Annual births have dropped by more than a quarter over the past decade, compounding the country’s loss of youngsters to migration.

Turkey fines over 100 doctors for caesarean deliveries: Report

Economies thrive with older, smaller population, new study finds

Parents, stop complaining about your children. Do it for the future of Singapore

Complaining is actually an inevitable, natural manifestation of being a parent.

Killing the mood: Smartphones reduce birth rate, US studies say

Researchers say that the introduction of the smartphone “played a sizable role in the decline in US births” after 2007 as it shaped people’s behaviour with less in-person contact.

Bhutan to give cash incentives to families for more babies

Bhutan’s total annual births fell from 11,001 in 2015 to 8,153 in 2024, a decline about 26 per cent.

Study finds paternity leave has no impact on Singapore couples’ decisions to have more children

The findings differ from those of other countries like the Nordic, where taking paternity leave has been linked to having more children.

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MDDI (P) 046/10/2025. Published by SPH Media Limited, Co. Regn. No.202120748H. Copyright © 2026 SPH Media Limited. All rights reserved.