Singapore’s fertility rate and births: the numbers, and what’s moving them

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What would change the rate?

Start from

2025 rates0.872015 rates1.242000 rates1.601990 rates1.83Ages 25–34 backat 2015 rates

Births a year for every 1,000 women

Age 15–19

Age 20–24

Age 25–29

Age 30–34

Age 35–39

Age 40–44

Age 45–49

These rates make a fertility rate of 0.87

• About 26,900 births a year to the citizen and PR women here in June 2025.
• To reach 2.1, the level that replaces parents, every rate here would have to be 2.4 times higher.

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What the rate means

1. Today100
2. Their children44
3. Grandchildren19
4. Great-grandchildren8

Our sum: the rate of 0.87 divided by two parents, each generation, held still and with no one moving in or out.

The total fertility rate adds up this year’s birth rates at each age, from 15 to 49. It’s what a woman would have if she lived her whole life at this year’s rates. So it can drop because people have babies later, even if they end up with the same number. It covers citizens and PRs. Foreign workers and other non-residents aren’t in it.

A rate of about 2.1 keeps a population level without migration. Singapore last reached that in 1976. SingStat’s net reproduction rate counts daughters only and allows for deaths: it was 0.42 in 2025, so 100 women today are replaced by about 42 daughters.

On 26 February 2026 Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong put the 2025 rate of 0.87 this way: “for every 100 residents today, we will have just 44 children, and a mere 19 grandchildren”.

Singapore’s fertility rate since 1960

Fertility rate Replacement, 2.1

Since 196020 years

Tap or hover on the chart to read a value.

0123456

197019801990200020102020

The rate was 5.76 in 1960. It first fell below 2.1 in 1975 and last reached it in 1976. The lowest year on record is 2025, at 0.87. Before 1980, SingStat’s rate covers the total population; from 1980 it covers citizens and PRs.

Every year, 1960 to 2025

Fertility rate and births by year

Year	Rate	Births	Residents	Per 1,000
2025	0.87	29,864	27,393	6.5
2024	0.97	33,703	30,808	7.4
2023	0.97	33,541	30,518	7.4
2022	1.04	35,605	32,290	7.9
2021	1.12	38,672	34,183	8.6
2020	1.10	38,590	34,233	8.5
2019	1.14	39,279	35,330	8.8
2018	1.14	39,039	35,040	8.8
2017	1.16	39,615	35,444	8.9
2016	1.20	41,251	36,875	9.4
2015	1.24	42,185	37,861	9.7
2014	1.25	42,232	37,967	9.8
2013	1.19	39,720	35,681	9.3
2012	1.29	42,663	38,641	10.1
2011	1.20	39,654	36,178	9.5
2010	1.15	37,967	35,129	9.3
2009	1.22	39,570	36,925	9.9
2008	1.28	39,826	37,277	10.2
2007	1.29	39,490	37,074	10.3
2006	1.28	38,317	36,272	10.3
2005	1.26	37,492	35,528	10.2
2004	1.26	37,174	35,135	10.3
2003	1.27	37,485	35,474	10.5
2002	1.37	40,760	38,555	11.4
2001	1.41	41,451	39,281	11.8
2000	1.60	46,997	44,765	13.7
1999	1.47	43,336	41,327	12.8
1998	1.48	43,664	41,636	13.1
1997	1.61	47,333	45,356	14.5
1996	1.66	48,577	46,707	15.2
1995	1.67	48,635	46,916	15.6
1994	1.71	49,554	48,075	16.2
1993	1.74	50,225	48,739	16.8
1992	1.72	49,402	47,907	16.8
1991	1.73	49,114	47,805	17.1
1990	1.83	51,142	49,787	18.2
1989	1.75	47,669	46,361	17.5
1988	1.96	52,957	51,537	19.8
1987	1.62	43,616	42,362	16.6
1986	1.43	38,379	37,159	14.8
1985	1.61	42,484	41,100	16.6
1984	1.62	41,556	40,200	16.5
1983	1.61	40,585	39,300	16.3
1982	1.74	42,654	41,300	17.5
1981	1.78	42,250	41,000	17.6
1980	1.82	41,217	40,100	17.6
1979	1.79	40,779	–	17.1
1978	1.79	39,441	–	16.8
1977	1.82	38,364	–	16.5
1976	2.11	42,783	–	18.7
1975	2.07	39,948	–	17.7
1974	2.35	43,268	–	19.4
1973	2.79	48,269	–	22.0
1972	3.04	49,678	–	23.1
1971	3.02	47,088	–	22.3
1970	3.07	45,934	–	22.1
1969	3.22	44,562	–	21.8
1968	3.53	47,241	–	23.5
1967	3.91	50,560	–	25.6
1966	4.46	54,680	–	28.3
1965	4.66	55,725	–	29.5
1964	4.97	58,217	–	31.6
1963	5.16	59,530	–	33.2
1962	5.21	58,977	–	33.7
1961	5.41	59,930	–	35.2
1960	5.76	61,775	–	37.5

SingStat. Births are all births here. Residents are births to citizens and PRs, which SingStat starts in 1980. Per 1,000 is the crude birth rate. Download the CSV.

This year’s rate, before the official figure

SingStat publishes the year’s rate the following year, but it publishes births every month. Our estimate takes last year’s rate and scales it by births so far. From January to September, 2026 had 21,044 births against 22,412 in the same months of 2025, so 0.87 becomes about 0.82.

Run on 20 past years with the same 9 months, it was off by 0.018 on average and 0.046 at worst. Assuming no change was off by 0.045. The range we show is the estimate plus or minus that worst miss. One warning: SingStat counts 2026 births by date of registration, not date of birth as in the years we tested, so this year’s estimate has a source of error the test can’t see.

The test, the same months each year. The latest eight are shown. It’s a rough guide, not an official figure.

When SingStat publishes, our estimate goes here beside its figure, right or wrong.

Why the rate fell

Between 2015 and 2025 the rate moved −0.37. Women aged 15–49 went from 1,013,920 to 998,988. On our sum, changes in rates moved births by about −10,600 a year, and changes in the number of women by about +800.

Women aged 25–34 account for about 80% of the change. Rates at 35–39 fell, from 49.9 to 46.0 for every 1,000 women, so these figures don’t show older mothers making up for it. Rates at 40–44 rose, from 8.9 to 9.5. A falling rate can partly be babies coming later, and a yearly figure can’t separate that from fewer babies in the end.

Compare any two years

From2025202420232022202120202019201820172016201520142013201220112010200920082007200620052004200320022001200019991998199719961995199419931992199119901989198819871986198519841983198219811980

To2025202420232022202120202019201820172016201520142013201220112010200920082007200620052004200320022001200019991998199719961995199419931992199119901989198819871986198519841983198219811980

2015 to 2025: the rate moved −0.37

• Ages 25–29 moved it most, 41% of the change.
• Births a year changed by about −10,600 from rates and about +800 from the number of women. Women aged 15–49 went from 1,013,920 to 998,988.

Rates by age in the two years

Age	2015	2025	On the rate
15–19	2.7	1.3	−0.007
20–24	18.7	8.7	−0.050
25–29	68.7	38.1	−0.153
30–34	98.5	69.7	−0.144
35–39	49.9	46.0	−0.020
40–44	8.9	9.5	+0.003
45–49	0.4	0.5	+0.001

Our sums from SingStat’s rates and counts of citizen and PR women. Births here are the sum of rate times women, so they run a little under SingStat’s count. The rates part and the women part add up to the whole change.

Births by mother’s age

SingStat. The peak has moved from the late 20s to the early 30s and shrunk.

Age at first birth

Median age at first birth

Since 1990

Tap or hover on the chart to read a value.

27282930313233

200020102020

Half of first-time mothers were 32.1 or older in 2025, up from 27.5 in 1990.

Fertility rate by race

Chinese Malays Indians

Since 198020 years

Tap or hover on the chart to read a value.

00.511.522.53

1990200020102020

SingStat, citizens and PRs. It doesn’t publish a rate for other ethnic groups in this table.

How many babies are born

Births, 12 months to date

Since 196010 years

Tap or hover on the chart to read a value.

020k40k60k80k

197019801990200020102020

29,864 babies were born in 2025, or 6.5 for every 1,000 residents. The most in a year since 1960 was 61,775 in 1960. In the 12 months to September 2026 there were 28,496. SingStat counts 2026 births by date of registration and earlier years by date of birth, so read the last stretch of the line with care.

First, second or third child

SingStat, citizens and PRs. The shares are our sums, of births where the order was reported.

Marriages and births

Resident marriages Resident births

Since 1984

Tap or hover on the chart to read a value.

010k20k30k40k50k60k

1990200020102020

There were 23,243 resident marriages in 2025 and 24,835 in 2024.

Which month has the most births?

1. Jan90.5
2. Feb88.6
3. Mar90.0
4. Apr87.8
5. May88.3
6. Jun89.0
7. Jul89.8
8. Aug90.6
9. Sep97.6
10. Oct95.4
11. Nov95.2
12. Dec88.3

Our sums from SingStat’s resident births by month, 2016 to 2025, per day so short months aren’t penalised.

September has the most births a day, 97.6 against 87.8 in April.

Do Dragon years make a difference?

In all 5 Dragon years here, the rate for Chinese residents rose that year and fell the next.

SingStat’s fertility rate for Chinese residents. Lunar years don’t line up exactly with calendar years.

Policy and the rate, since 1966

1. 1966Singapore Family Planning and Population Board set uprate 4.46
2. 1972“Stop at Two” campaign beginsrate 3.04
3. 1973Delivery fees rise with each child, and fourth children get lower school priorityrate 2.79
4. 1984Graduate Mothers Scheme gives priority to children of graduate mothers with three or morerate 1.62
5. 1987“Have three or more, if you can afford it” replaces “Stop at Two”rate 1.62
6. 2001Baby Bonus Scheme begins on 1 Aprilrate 1.41
7. 2015Jubilee Marriage and Parenthood Package, with Baby Bonus Plusrate 1.24
8. 2023Baby Bonus Cash Gift raised for children born from 14 Februaryrate 0.97
9. 2025Large Families Scheme for third and later childrenrate 0.87
10. 2026Shared Parental Leave rises from 6 to 10 weeks from 1 Aprilrate not out yet
11. 2026SG Child Support Package announced, up to $62,000 a child, payouts from April 2027rate not out yet

Dates from the National Library Board’s BiblioAsia and government pages. Rates from SingStat. The list shows what happened and when. It doesn’t show that any step caused a change in the rate.

Other places in East Asia

Each place’s own official figure, read on 7 Nov 2026. They don’t all count the same people, so treat small gaps as no gap at all.

More on this topic

Singapore in numbers

• Singapore population: how many people, and who they are

Questions people ask

The checks

The page tests SingStat’s tables against each other every time it loads.

How we work this out

A job reads SingStat’s tables every morning, so new figures show here without anyone typing them.

• Official: the fertility rate, rates by age and ethnic group, births, the crude birth rate and the median age at first birth are SingStat’s own figures.
• Ours: the estimate, the generations sum, the what-if tool, the split between rates and women, and shares. The split uses the midpoint of the two years, so nothing is left over.
• Age detail: the tools start in 1980. Before that, we show the rate but don’t compare ages.
• This page shows numbers, not advice. See our disclaimer, how we get our numbers and corrections.

Source: Singapore Department of Statistics, Table Builder, read on 7 Nov 2026, used under its terms of use. Numbers.sg isn’t connected to or endorsed by the Singapore Government.

Changes to this page

1. 7 Nov 2026

   Singapore’s fertility rate and births: the rate since 1960, what moved it, by age and race, our estimate for this year, a what-if tool and a compare tool. Singapore’s fertility rate