As Singapore’s birth rate hits a historic low, South Korea’s modest but notable rebound offers a ray of hope and possible lessons, experts said.

Singapore’s total fertility rate (TFR) fell to 0.87 in 2025, parliament was told on Thursday (Feb 26), continuing a slide that first pushed the country below 1.0 in 2023.

A TFR below one means the average woman has less than one child in her lifetime – far below the 2.1 replacement rate needed to keep the population from shrinking.

For South Korea, its TFR declined for eight consecutive years to a record low of 0.72 in 2023, the lowest of any country in the world. But in the two years since, it has edged upwards: 0.75 in 2024 and 0.8 in 2025.

In a landscape where most developed nations continue to see fertility rates fall, that reversal stands out. What drove it? And can Singapore replicate any of it?

SPENDING BIG

Since 2006, the South Korean government has spent more than 360 trillion won (US$250 billion) on programmes to raise birth rates, including childcare subsidies, cash grants and housing incentives.

For years, these measures failed to move the needle – its TFR fell from 1.13 in 2006 to 0.72 in 2023.

But a more intensive push appears to have coincided with the uptick. In 2022, Seoul launched a 6.7 trillion won “Birth Support Project” to encourage marriages and childbirth in the capital, with welfare housing for newlyweds and expanded daycare capacity.

Parents receive 2 million won upon the birth of a child, and 3 million won for subsequent births. Since last year, newlyweds who register their marriage in Seoul get an additional 1 million won.

Parental leave has also been extended significantly. In 2025, the South Korean Cabinet approved legislation that allowed employees to apply for up to three years of shared parental leave.

Beyond financial incentives, cities like Seoul have rolled out dating programmes for time-poor singles, including officially organised social gatherings to help people find partners.

CULTURAL SHIFT

South Korean officials have pointed to something harder to legislate: a shift in social attitudes. Parents interviewed in a CNN report this month said that greater acceptance of parental leave, particularly from bosses, has made it easier to balance careers and family life.

Professor Jean Yeung of the National University of Singapore’s Department of Paediatrics said many of South Korea’s measures mirror policies already in place in Singapore.

Singapore provides 16 weeks of paid maternity leave for eligible mothers and four weeks for eligible fathers, with 10 weeks of shared parental leave. South Korea’s up to three years’ entitlement for couples goes considerably further.

“This sent a loud and clear message that they are serious about changing gender norms and practices in society,” said Prof Yeung of South Korea’s parental leave policy.

Dr Kalpana Vignehsa, senior research fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), said South Korea’s progress on workplace culture came through sustained schemes targeting employer practices over more than a decade, and that Singapore has room to move further in the same direction.

She pointed to companies rolling back flexible work arrangements and calling employees back to the office as subtle but real deterrents to parenthood.