Singapore’s total fertility rate fell to a record low of 0.87 in 2025, Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong said, warning that the country faces an “existential challenge” from declining birth rates and an ageing population.

Axar.az reports, citing Singapore's media, that the fertility rate fell below 1.0 for the first time in 2023, when it stood at 0.97, and remained at that level in 2024.

Gan said Singapore recorded about 27,500 resident births in 2025, the lowest number in its recorded history.

“If no new measures are taken, our citizen population will start to shrink by the early part of the 2040s,” he said.

The share of citizens aged 65 and above reached one in five in 2025, compared with one in eight in 2015.

Gan said the government would continue supporting marriage and parenthood while also relying on “carefully managed” immigration to offset the effects of low fertility.

A new government workgroup will examine measures to encourage marriage and parenthood, improve workplace support for families and reduce the costs of raising children.