1. Population
Policies
Part 1: Babies and more babies

2. Changing Times &
Needs
 Watch the video. With a partner, jot down
and describe what you see.
 What can you infer from the video about
the living conditions in Singapore at that
time?

3. Buzz Break 1
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cymVNcpnXTY&feature=fvsr

4. Today’s Lesson
 You will learn:
 The negative effects of population growth.
 The measures government took to reduce
these effects.
 The effects of government measures and its
impact on Singapore society
 Approach to SBQs – Inference Skill

5. Singapore’s population
boom (1950s to 1960s)
 After the war there was a period of
stability and peace.
 People had more children during this
period as they were:
 More confident about the future. Life was
hard but at least health conditions and
nutrition was improving.

6. Measures to control
population growth –
1960s
 The government launched three 5-year Plans to control
population growth between 1966 to 1981 (F).
 First 5 year plan (1966-1971)
 Plan emphasised need for smaller families, created
awareness of the negative effects of pop. growth.
 Second 5 year plan (1971-1976)
 Encouraged married couples to stop at two. This
measure was to reduce the size of the replacement rate.

7. Measures to control
population growth
measures
 Measures from the 3rd Five-Year Plan
 The third plan aimed to maintain the replacement
level of the population at 2.1
 What is replacement level? –
Mothers having just enough children to replace the
population that is growing older or dying

8. Measures to control
population growth –
1960s
 Measures from third plan (1976-1981)
 No paid maternity leave to be given to the third and
subsequent children.
 No priority given to large families in the allocation of
government flats
 No income tax relief to be given for the fourth and
subsequent children
 Delivery charges in hospitals to be increased with
each additional child.

9. What was the effect of
this?
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10. Effects of population
control measures
 The three five year plans very effective in
controlling population:
 Replacement level dropped and less
problems of population growth.
 Resources and infrastructure were now
adequate to support smaller population…
 …but a new problem arose.

11. Buzz Break 2
 Discuss with your partner what do you think
was the new problem that emerged after
the success of the population control
measures?

12. Effects of population
control measures
 1980s – Declining birth rate
 Due to success of population control measures
 Increased cost of living
 Increased cost of medical care
 High cost of raising children – FDWs, Tuition fees etc.
 Later marriages and more Singaporeans remaining
unmarried – believe that children may lead to them
having less money for themselves.
 Lack of child-care arrangements.

13. Effects of population
control policies
 Declining birth rate - 80s had negative effects.
 Need to promote population growth because:
 Larger workforce - to sustain economic growth
 Small labor market – difficult/expensive for MNCs to
set-up factories here. (Why?)
 Country faced with ageing population- less young
people looking after older people
 Fewer men to enlist in National Service (NS) – what
about Singapore’s sovereignty and security?

14. Effects of declining
population
 Economic Effects
 Unattractive to multi-national companies
 With a small population Singapore would not be
able to produce enough talented people.
 MNCs would find it more expensive to recruit
talented workers compared to other countries like
China and India.
 Smaller market for goods and services produced
by MNCs. This would lead them to relocate to
other areas.

15. Effects of declining
population
 Social Effects
 Ageing population
 Fewer babies ea. year = fewer young people in
the population.
 The numbers of older people would be
proportionately larger.
 Younger people would need to shoulder more of
the burden of looking after older citizens.
 Also…more resources needed to look after
elderly (This is covered in the next lecture)

16. Effects of Declining
Population
 Social Effects
 Defence
 Fewer babies born each year = less men to enlist for
National Service (military training)
 This shortage could weaken Singapore’s defence in
the long run.
 Make Singapore more vulnerable to attack from
external forces.
 More resources needed to improve our military
advantage – reliance on high tech equipment

17. Measures to promote
population growth –
1980s
 Graduate Mothers Scheme (1984)
 Encouraged marriages among graduates and to have
more children. (F)
 Create a more educated workforce. This would mean
less need for a large population. (El + Ex)
 Scheme withdrawn in 85’ because of negative response
from all sections of population. (L)
 Non-graduates - discriminatory and graduates felt this
government should not be involved in this area. (L)

18. Measures to promote
population growth – 80s &
90’s
 “Have-more-children-if-you-can” policy
 Parents encouraged to have 3 or more if they could
afford it.
 Government encouraged this, by having measures to
relieve financial burden of having more children.
 e.g. able to use MediSave to pay for delivery
charges for first three children.
 Did not lead to large increases in population.
S’poreans believed having children was not affordable.

19. Measures to promote
population growth –
2000s
 Pro-Family Measures – 2004
 In 80s & 90s – population still not growing. Replacement
level still below 2.1. Negative effect on economy.
 Government intro’ measures to encourage growth:
 Five-day work week for the civil service
 Grandparent care-giver relief (income tax)
 Extended maternity leave (from 8 to 12 weeks)
 Despite these measures, replacement rate still low and
dropping.

20. Measures to promote
population growth –
present
 Policy to attract foreign talent:
 Govt. still promoting population increase - worried that
economy will be effected by low birth rate.
 Encouraged global talents to come to Singapore to work
& build economy - enhance S’pore’s competitiveness.
 Relaxed immigration policy from 1989
 Subsidized housing
 Attractive education packages for children of new citizens
 Policy needed but not welcomed by S’poreans – many
feel foreigners taking opportunities away from them.

21. Lesson Recap
 List the measures that government put in
place to control population.
 List one effect of large population
 List one effect of declining population.
 What are the parts of a SBQ question?
 What are the steps to an SBQ question?