Apart from our government's realization and efforts in tackling our Low Birth Rates, WHY don't don't they really get down and FIND OUT, what really is holding people back from having babies??? Too afraid to know?? Their Baby Bonuses and what noughts, aren't enough. Isn't it time to stop serving up Half-Assed Solutions???
Wake up PAP....please do wake up...!
======================================================
Singapore shrinking
With alarmingly fewer babies and more elderly, UN paints a stark picture for Singapore Jasmine Yin
[email protected]This is one ranking where Singapore would not want to be so high up the list.
.
Unfortunately, while it is behind South Korea, it is way ahead of other Asian contenders such as Malaysia and Hong Kong.
.
A United Nations report looking ahead to the years between 2045 and 2050 lists countries whose natural populations will grow most slowly. In fact, they will actually shrink.
.
So acute is Singapore's shortage of babies that there are only four countries in the world whose natural populations will fall at a faster rate. They are Ukraine, Bulgaria, Belarus and South Korea.
.
Even Japan, which has long struggled with a lack of babies, will shrink more slowly than Singapore.
.
This is "not a good thing", noted Environment and Water Resources Senior Parliamentary Secretary Dr Amy Khor, who sat on the committee behind the Baby Bonus package of pro-family incentives. She said that this finding "serves to confirm what we already know and have been trying to tackle".
.
Aside from the Baby Bonus — introduced in 2001 and enhanced in 2004 — the Government has been trying to attract more immigrants, added Dr Khor, who is also the Southwest District mayor.
.
Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng recently said Singapore has to attract immigrants to keep the economy humming.
.
Mr Wong, who chairs the National Population Committee, estimated that 10,000 to 12,000 new citizens a year is a "good number" to attract.
.
According to the report, by 2050, Singaporeans are projected to live up to the age of 84.6 years — 4.6 years more than the average life expectancy now. Japan, Hong Kong and Macau are the only Asian countries where longevity will supersede Singapore's by 2050.
.
Macau, Japan, South Korea and Singapore will also have the top four oldest populations in the world by 2050, with the median age ranging from 53.7 to 55.5. The median age is expected to rise by at least 12 years between 2005 and 2050 in 37 developing countries in Asia.
.
Ageing is most advanced in Europe, the report noted, and by 2050, the continent will have twice as many older people — those aged 60 and above — as children, or those below 15 years old. This combination will pose "major challenges for the social and economic adaptation of societies".
.
Population ageing is "accelerating" in Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.
.
In Asia, by 2040, the older people will outnumber the children. And, globally, by 2045, there is likely to be more older people than children "for the first time in history".
.
This is the "consequence of the long-term reductions in fertility and mortality" in the world, the report said.
.
Africa is the only region with a relatively young population. Its elderly people will be "far below" that of children in 2050, it added.
With alarmingly fewer babies and more elderly, UN paints a stark picture for Singapore