birth dearth

definition ( taken from wikipedia ) : refers to falling fertility rate, often cited as a response to overpopulation.

reasons to falling fertility rate:
1) working women increase
- equality of status between men and women, thus women are more career-minded. Long working hours causes fatigue to women and thus, preventing them from having night activities.
2) late marriage
- late marriages are a common trend nowadays due to career-driven mindset. Late marriages mean lesser children women can conceive, thus resulting in a falling birth rate.

effects on society:
1) lesser labour in industries in the near future. economy may decline as a result.
2) ageing population. In singapore's context, if birth rate continue to fall, ageing population will worsened. Taxes will increase to support the non-working elderly. Retirement age will also increase.
3) Government has to pump in more money on health related industries such as the hospitals and pharmacies to cater to the elderly's needs.

measures taken by the government:
1) incentives such as the baby bonus to encourage women to give birth to more babies. Aims to increase birth rate.
2) government policies such as medishield and medisave. helps the elderly with financial difficulties to subsidize for the medicine and service given by the hospitals if they ever need it.
3) schools are teaching ageing population as part of the syllabus in social studies to create awareness among young people about the drastic effects that could result from the declining birth rate.

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