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[h=2]A History of Singapore’s Population Control, 1947 ~ 2001[/h]
August 12th, 2012 |
Author: sgpolcom-kel
According to the government, a significant reason Singapore is opening up to foreign workers and immigrants is because our fertility rate is currently one of the lowest in the world at 1.2 TFR (total fertility rate).
In this article, we present a visual look at how for more than 30 years since 1947, the Singapore government has introduced birth control measures to bring down the population, and how from 1977 onwards till now, the government has battled Singapore’s ever decreasing birth rate with little success.
Fertility rate comparison between Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, China, Korea, and the world.
From 1947 all the way to the early ’70s, the Singapore government was concerned how given our small land area and (then) small economy, overpopulation will lead to a lower quality of life across the board for all Singaporeans – more mouths to compete for scarce resources.
In response, they instituted in the above-mentioned time period (1947 ~ 1977) multiple policies to reduce birth rate. As a result, from a high of 5.45 TFR in 1960, to a just above replacement level of 2.08 in 1975. (Note: China’s One-Child Policy started in 1978.)
They probably thought it would stay that way, or intend to keep it at that level, and micro-adjust with policy changes over time according to their objectives. However, the Singapore leaders did not count on the birth rate falling further – in 1977, Singapore’s fertility fell to 1.82 TFR. 1976 would be the last time Singapore ever saw the nation had a TFR at or above the replacement level.
In 1983, Lee Kuan Yew stated publicly that the failure of female uni grads to marry and bear children was a serious social problem. The fertility in 1983 stood at 1.61, a downwards trend since 1977. In a bid to boost the population fertility rate, the government introduced a series of policies starting from 1983, which will continue till the end of the decade.
The general hallmark of these pro-population growth policies is that they seemed designed by eugenics believers – the policies are structured to reduce/discourage the birthing capabilities of less-educated women who are seen as having less intelligent genes, and giving preference to boosting the birth rates of women who are at least tertiary educated and thus deemed to have more intelligent genes.
These policies apparently worked — for a short while, 2 years to be exact. In 1987 and 1988, Singapore’s fertility rose to 1.96 TFR. The policies effectiveness did not last long however, and in 1989, it started on a downwards trend again. In 2011, Singapore’s fertility stood at 1.2 TFR.
UPDATE: Thanks to MG in the comments below who pointed out that 1988 was the year of the Dragon, and that is highly possible the reason the TFR rose in that two years – look for the corroboration in HK’s birth rates in the same two years. However, the increase in Singapore was more than proportionate to the increase in HK, so it might be the policies had some positive effect after all.
Visual Timeline of Singapore’s Population History and Policies
A Dark Humor
At SGPolCom, we find a dark humor in the Singapore’s government attitude to our population – they thought it growing too fast, and curbed it, only to panic it was growing too slowly, tried to raise it, and failed till now. Like an out-of-control yoyo, only that we are the yoyo.
As a result, we are opening the doors to foreigners in order to maintain or boost our population. In 30 years since 1980, we have almost doubled Singapore’s population including foreigners, from 2.4 million in 1980, to 5.2 million in 2011. And majority of the new foreigners are the less-educated.
For a government who tries to give an impression that they could do no wrong, this is in our opinion an exemplary example of how they got it really wrong .
From fear of overcrowding, to fear of not enough population. From curbing birthing capabilities of less-educated women, to importing less-educated foreigners in bulk.
This is a tale of stark contrasting policy decisions by our leaders.
UPDATE: On the day this article was posted, an article at night was published by ChannelNews Asia – “Enormous problems if Singaporeans don’t procreate: Lee Kuan Yew“.
Lee Kuan Yew and his team’s early policies stymied Singapore’s population growth all the way till 1977. In the space of a short 6 years, the entire government did a reversal on the objectives it has implemented. However, the policies made a generation ago are still haunting Singapore as a nation.
We will follow up with another article to look at possible reasons why Singaporeans are not procreating now.
UPDATE: Thanks to James in the comments below, we have changed those nasty, ugly-sounding ‘lesser-educated’ to ‘less-educated’.
UPDATE: This article has a follow-up at another SGPOLCOM article – “The effects of the population ‘disincentives’ policies“, 13 Aug 2012. That article will be up on TR EMERITUS soon.
———-
KELVIN TAN
The author by day wears his underwear on the inside and tries his best to contribute to Singapore’s economy. By night, he wears his underwear on the outside (sometimes that’s the only thing he wears) and is chief scapegoat at SGPolCom, trying his best to contribute to Singapore’s policies and politics.
———-
According to the government, a significant reason Singapore is opening up to foreign workers and immigrants is because our fertility rate is currently one of the lowest in the world at 1.2 TFR (total fertility rate).
In this article, we present a visual look at how for more than 30 years since 1947, the Singapore government has introduced birth control measures to bring down the population, and how from 1977 onwards till now, the government has battled Singapore’s ever decreasing birth rate with little success.
Fertility rate comparison between Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, China, Korea, and the world.
From 1947 all the way to the early ’70s, the Singapore government was concerned how given our small land area and (then) small economy, overpopulation will lead to a lower quality of life across the board for all Singaporeans – more mouths to compete for scarce resources.
In response, they instituted in the above-mentioned time period (1947 ~ 1977) multiple policies to reduce birth rate. As a result, from a high of 5.45 TFR in 1960, to a just above replacement level of 2.08 in 1975. (Note: China’s One-Child Policy started in 1978.)
They probably thought it would stay that way, or intend to keep it at that level, and micro-adjust with policy changes over time according to their objectives. However, the Singapore leaders did not count on the birth rate falling further – in 1977, Singapore’s fertility fell to 1.82 TFR. 1976 would be the last time Singapore ever saw the nation had a TFR at or above the replacement level.
In 1983, Lee Kuan Yew stated publicly that the failure of female uni grads to marry and bear children was a serious social problem. The fertility in 1983 stood at 1.61, a downwards trend since 1977. In a bid to boost the population fertility rate, the government introduced a series of policies starting from 1983, which will continue till the end of the decade.
The general hallmark of these pro-population growth policies is that they seemed designed by eugenics believers – the policies are structured to reduce/discourage the birthing capabilities of less-educated women who are seen as having less intelligent genes, and giving preference to boosting the birth rates of women who are at least tertiary educated and thus deemed to have more intelligent genes.
These policies apparently worked — for a short while, 2 years to be exact. In 1987 and 1988, Singapore’s fertility rose to 1.96 TFR. The policies effectiveness did not last long however, and in 1989, it started on a downwards trend again. In 2011, Singapore’s fertility stood at 1.2 TFR.
UPDATE: Thanks to MG in the comments below who pointed out that 1988 was the year of the Dragon, and that is highly possible the reason the TFR rose in that two years – look for the corroboration in HK’s birth rates in the same two years. However, the increase in Singapore was more than proportionate to the increase in HK, so it might be the policies had some positive effect after all.
Visual Timeline of Singapore’s Population History and Policies
A Dark Humor
At SGPolCom, we find a dark humor in the Singapore’s government attitude to our population – they thought it growing too fast, and curbed it, only to panic it was growing too slowly, tried to raise it, and failed till now. Like an out-of-control yoyo, only that we are the yoyo.
As a result, we are opening the doors to foreigners in order to maintain or boost our population. In 30 years since 1980, we have almost doubled Singapore’s population including foreigners, from 2.4 million in 1980, to 5.2 million in 2011. And majority of the new foreigners are the less-educated.
For a government who tries to give an impression that they could do no wrong, this is in our opinion an exemplary example of how they got it really wrong .
From fear of overcrowding, to fear of not enough population. From curbing birthing capabilities of less-educated women, to importing less-educated foreigners in bulk.
This is a tale of stark contrasting policy decisions by our leaders.
UPDATE: On the day this article was posted, an article at night was published by ChannelNews Asia – “Enormous problems if Singaporeans don’t procreate: Lee Kuan Yew“.
Lee Kuan Yew and his team’s early policies stymied Singapore’s population growth all the way till 1977. In the space of a short 6 years, the entire government did a reversal on the objectives it has implemented. However, the policies made a generation ago are still haunting Singapore as a nation.
We will follow up with another article to look at possible reasons why Singaporeans are not procreating now.
UPDATE: Thanks to James in the comments below, we have changed those nasty, ugly-sounding ‘lesser-educated’ to ‘less-educated’.
UPDATE: This article has a follow-up at another SGPOLCOM article – “The effects of the population ‘disincentives’ policies“, 13 Aug 2012. That article will be up on TR EMERITUS soon.
———-
KELVIN TAN
The author by day wears his underwear on the inside and tries his best to contribute to Singapore’s economy. By night, he wears his underwear on the outside (sometimes that’s the only thing he wears) and is chief scapegoat at SGPolCom, trying his best to contribute to Singapore’s policies and politics.
———-
