Marriage Policy

Table of Contents

1.             Introduction        3

1.1        Overview        3

1.3        Issue        4

1.4       Reasons for Late Marriage        5

1.4.1    Focus on Career        5

1.4.2    Inability to Find a Suitable Partner        6

1.4.3    High Cost of Marriage        7

2.              Analysis of Concern Regarding Late Marriage        8

2.1            Society        8

2.1.1     Risk of Infertility and Pregnancy Problems        8

2.1.2     Ageing Population        9

2.1.3     Material Standard of Living        10

2.1.4     Happiness Index        12

2.2         Business        14

2.2.1     Career Performance        14

2.2.z     Shrinking Workforce and Consumer Base        15

3.              Identification of Stakeholders        16

3.1         Primary Stakeholders        16

3.2         Secondary Stakeholders        17

4.              Review of Government Actions        18

4.1         Social Development Network (SDN)        18

4.2         Foreign Brides        19

4.3          Housing Schemes        20

5.              Recommendations        24

5.1         Improving work life        24

5.2         Marriage Grant for couples        25

5.3         Addressing Misconceptions        25

6.              Conclusion        25

7.              Appendix        26

8.              Reference        28

1. Introduction

1. Overview

On January 2013, the Singapore government released the Population White Paper entitled A Sustainable Population for a Dynamic Singapore. It addressed the concern of ageing population whereby Singapore's 900,000 Baby Boomers^[1] would comprise a quarter of the citizen population by 2030, and that its workforce would start shrinking from 2020 onwards as shown in Figure 1.1. The Population White Paper also mapped out its preparation for Singapore's population growth to 6.9 million. This resulted in an unexpected major protest involving 4,000 people at Hong Lim Park in February 2013 regarding the appallingly high figure of 6.9 million undesirable to many Singaporeans. Also, of the 6.9 million, only 55% is estimated to be Singaporean which led the Singaporeans to feel threatened. Theremore, more should be done to increase the Singaporean population without having to rely on foreigners. This report aims to tackle one of the root issues that has led to low birth rate - late marriage.