Singapore is offering a “pandemic baby bonus” to encourage folks to have infants during the coronavirus pandemic. The government is providing couples who plan to have a baby a one-off payment, as there is fear that citizens are putting off having children amidst financial stress and job layoffs caused due to the pandemic.
Details of the amount to be paid are yet to be released. But, it is said that this is in addition to the hefty baby bonuses the federal government already provides. Currently, Singapore’s baby bonus system gives up to SGD 10,000 (USD 7,330) to eligible parents.
“We have received feedback that COVID-19 has caused some aspiring parents to postpone their parenthood plans,” Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat said on Monday.
Singapore has one of the lowest birth rates in the world, which it has been struggling to boost for many years. The country’s birth rate has been a contrast in comparison to that of its neighbours—Indonesia and Philippines, where pregnancies have spiked during coronavirus lockdowns.
Unintended pregnancies in the Philippines is expected to be around 2.6 million if COVID-19-induced movement restrictions remain until year-end, according to the United Nations Population Fund.
Singapore’s fertility rate touched an eight-year low in 2018, at 1.14 births per woman. Another country battling low birth rate is China, whose fertility rates have been the lowest since the formation of the People’s Republic of China 70 years ago, despite its easing off the one-child policy.
