10 Ways to Have More Babies

In a special report to look into ways to boost Singapore’s declining birth rates, The Straits Times discussed 10 viable options. One of them is to promote early marriage, as national statistics suggest that people who marry when they are older have children later and have fewer of them. Responding to a suggestion that the government provides subsidies for people to marry earlier, Associate Professor Christie Scollon, who teaches psychology at the Singapore Management University, said: “If people believe that a certain set of requirements must be met before one can marry, then no amount of subsidy can get people to marry earlier.”