In a confounding press release by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s office (PMO) over the latest population statistics, the Prime Minister went into senseless rambling writing that low birth rate happens because “people have not yet had children”. The S$2.2 million-a-year Prime Minister was unable to explain the low birth rate, and instead blamed Singaporeans in their twenties:
“This is due partly to a larger cohort of young Singaporeans (aged 19 to 29 in 2017) – many of whom are children of baby boomers – who are entering the peak childbearing ages, but have not yet had children.”
According to the population report released yesterday (Sep 27), birth rate in Singapore hit a record low of 1.16 in 2017 from 1.2 in the year before. The decrease comes not a surprise due to the cost of living seeing the biggest increase in 2017 – contributed primarily by a 30% increase in water prices.
Despite posting a record-low birth rate, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong published a propaganda graph defending his government’s failure – cherry-picking statistics and claiming that the number of citizens birth is still at “above decade’s average”:
Clik here to view.
Propaganda graph from PMO report
The number of Singaporeans giving birth overseas had also jumped from 1,400 on average in the previous five years to 1,700 in 2017, signifying that there is better family support in overseas compared to living in Singapore.
The PMO’s population report also revealed that the government is ramping up on immigration, giving citizenship to 22,076 foreigners. The figure is the second-highest in 11 years, similar to 2016’s 22,102 figure. New citizens is part of the ruling party dictatorship’s strategy to retain political powers in the coming general election, which is becoming increasingly difficult due to the GST tax increase and growing media literacy among the Singaporean population.
