Editing Demographics of Singapore (section)

===Population planning===
{{main|Population planning in Singapore}}

{| class="wikitable" style="float:right; text-align:center; margin:1em;"
|+ Per-period population growth, 1947—2000<ref name="Natalism" />
|-
!Period || Growth rate
|- style="text-align:right"
|1947—1957 || 84.7%
|- style="text-align:right"
|1957—1970 || 90.8%
|- style="text-align:right"
|1970—1980 || 13.3%
|- style="text-align:right"
|1980—1990 || 18.5%
|- style="text-align:right"
|1990— 2000 || 20.6%
|}
The post-war boom in births led to an interest in family planning, and by 1960, the government publicly funded and supported family planning programmes. After independence in 1965, the birth rate had fallen to 29.5 per thousand individuals, and the natural growth rate had fallen to 2.5%. Birth rates in the 1960s were still perceived as high by the government; on average, a baby was born every 11 minutes in 1965. [[Kandang Kerbau Hospital]] (KKH)—which specialised in women's health and was the most popular hospital to have children—saw over 100 deliveries per day in 1962. In 1966, KKH delivered 39835 babies, earning it a place in the [[Guinness Book of World Records]] for "largest number of births in a single maternity facility" for ten years. Because there was generally a massive shortage of beds in that era, mothers with routine deliveries were discharged from hospitals within 24 hours.<ref name="a2ofam">{{cite web |title=Family Planning |url=http://www.a2o.com.sg/a2o/public/html/etc/07_family.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110812063927/http://www.a2o.com.sg/a2o/public/html/etc/07_family.htm |archive-date=12 August 2011 |access-date=12 August 2011 |work=[[National Archives]] |publisher=Government of Singapore}}</ref>

In September 1965 the [[Ministry of Health (Singapore)|Minister for Health]], [[Yong Nyuk Lin]], submitted a white paper to Parliament, recommending a "Five-year Mass Family Planning programme" that would reduce the birth rate to 20.0 per thousand individuals by 1970. In 1966, the Family Planning and Population Board (FPPB) had been established based on the findings of the white paper, providing clinical services and public education on [[family planning]].<ref name="LOC1989">{{cite web |title=Singapore: Population Control Policies |url=http://www.photius.com/countries/singapore/society/singapore_society_population_control_p~11008.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110411115633/http://www.photius.com/countries/singapore/society/singapore_society_population_control_p~11008.html |archive-date=11 April 2011 |access-date=11 August 2011 |work=Library of Congress Country Studies (1989) |publisher=[[Library of Congress]]}}</ref>

By 1970, the [[Eugenics in Singapore#Stop at Two|''Stop at Two'']] campaign was firmly established, implementing incentives, disincentives and public exhortation to discourage families from having more than two children. After 1975, the fertility rate declined below replacement level, in a sign that Singapore was undergoing the [[demographic transition]]. In 1983, the ''Graduate Mothers' Scheme'' was implemented in an attempt to get educated women, especially women with a university degree, to marry and procreate, while the government encouraged women without an [[GCE Ordinary Level|O-level degree]] to get [[sterilization (medicine)|sterilised]]. This was done out of the [[Lee Kuan Yew]] government's belief that for the nation to best develop and avoid hardship, the educated classes should be encouraged to contribute to the nation's breeding pool, while the uneducated should not, sparking the ''Great Marriage Debate''.<ref name="LOC1989" />

In 1986, the government reversed its population policy—except its stance on low-income, lowly-educated women—and initiated the [[Eugenics in Singapore|Have Three or More (if you can afford it)]] campaign, offering cash and public administration incentives to have children. In 2001, the Singapore government started its [[Baby Bonus]] scheme.

Singapore has one of the lowest [[fertility rate]]s in the world.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}} In 2012, Singapore total fertility rate (TFR) was 1.20 children born per woman, a [[sub-replacement fertility]] rate. Ethnic Chinese had a fertility of 1.07 in 2004 (1.65 in 1990), while Malays had a TFR of 2.10 (2.69 in 1990). Both figures declined further in 2006. TFR for Indians was 1.30 in 2004 and 1.89 in 1990.<ref>{{cite web |last=Webb |first=Sara |date=26 April 2006 |title=Pushing for babies: S'pore fights fertility decline |url=http://www.singapore-window.org/sw06/060426re.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070316020939/http://www.singapore-window.org/sw06/060426re.htm |archive-date=16 March 2007 |work=Singapore Windows |agency=Reuters}}</ref> The Singapore government has launched several highly publicised attempts to raise the fertility rate and increase awareness of the negative effects of an ageing population, the elderly (65 and above) had constituted 9.9% of its population in 2012; this proportion is still significantly lower than that of many other developed nations, such as the United States and Japan. In February 2015, [[National University of Singapore]] launched the "New Age Institute" in conjunction with [[Washington University in St. Louis]] to conduct research on this issue.<ref>{{Cite web |title=About |url=http://www.fas.nus.edu.sg/nai/about/about-NAI.html |access-date=16 February 2020 |website=fas.nus.edu.sg}}</ref>