impact on Family Planning Policy on Singapore’s fertility rate
In this paper, I will examine the impact on Family Planning Policy on Singapore’s fertility rate. At the height of the post-World War II baby boom of 1957, Singapore enjoyed a high population with the fertility of at least six children per woman. The Singaporean government introduced policies to try and cut down its growing population. The population demographic was coupled with a young population and high employment rates. In 1966, the government formulated the Singapore Family Planning and Population Board to promote family planning. The government board was extremely successful, thanks to the policies they enacted. Some of the policies that highlighted this success include; Stop-at-Two program, which encouraged Singaporean couples to have at most two children. Other programs encouraged the use of contraceptives, such as birth control and the use of condoms. These measures led to a drastic fall in the total fertility rates to an estimated 1.4. This was far below the replacement level of 2.4. Consequently, Singapore was left with an aging population and a shortage of Singaporean labor. To reverse course, Singapore decided to have a different policy of having three or more if one can afford it to try and raise the total fertility rates. For data analysis, I will use the total fertility rates and population growth rate between 1957 and 1995. The data sources include secondary sources such as the Singaporean Census and Statistics data of currently married and ever-married women between ages 15 to 49, Ministry of Health data, and primary sources such as Friesen and Moore 1972 data on contraceptives prevalence. The fertility rate is the independent variable, while the population growth rate is the dependent variable.