Singapore's "Stop at Two" Reversal

@sszuchan youtube ^ | June 14, 2026 | @sszuchan

[Morgana]

In 1972, Singapore's Health Minister called having a fourth child irresponsible. Newspapers ran it on their front pages.

Then came the poster. Two girls under one umbrella, sharing one apple. "Girl or Boy, Two is Enough." It was on buses, in hospitals, in primary schools, on television.

They stripped income tax relief from any fourth child. Hospital delivery fees went up on a sliding scale punishing each additional birth. If you refused to stop having kids, your family dropped in the public housing queue. Nurses at Kandang Kerbau Hospital chided women carrying a third child as if they'd committed a crime.

It worked. By 1985 the fertility rate hit 1.62, well below replacement. By 1986, 1.44. So in 1987, the government reversed everything. The new slogan: "Have Three or More If You Can Afford It." By 1989, they were offering a S$20,000 tax rebate for a fourth child. The same fourth child the Health Minister had called an anti-social act.

The fertility rate did not recover. It kept falling. Through decades of subsidies, matchmaking campaigns, speed-dating events on the Singapore Flyer at S$140 a couple. The 2025 budget added S$13,000 cash gifts for a third child and expanded parental leave. The fertility rate hit a record low of 0.87.

Singapore didn't run out of money for babies. It ran out of motivation. The poster a child saw a thousand times at age eight was still running the decision at age forty. The mindset outlived every incentive they attached to it.

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TOPICS: Business/Economy; Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: prolife; singapore

[Morgana]

Once you have busted open the dam how do you close it up again?

[CondoleezzaProtege]

Only God can fill the breach.

And abortion laws need to change. I just looked it up. In keeping with its legacy, Singapore’s are among the most liberal in the books.

[Nateman]

Singapore has had much more influence on the World than most people know. Its system of Government was so successful it impressed Chinese officials enough to copy it. China in turn has become a real power because of it. In spite of having 3 times as many people China still can’t match American GNP because of its fundamental lack of freedom.

[lee martell]

(Formerly ‘Red’) China is now finding out the same thing.
Once you browbeat someone into rejecting what had been a natural family plan and approved ambition, it is very difficult to change that individual behavior back. Russia, also having the same self caused problems.

[DoodleBob]

I’ve never been to Singapore.

Everyone I know who’s been there loved it.

Clean, neat, orderly, profitable…low crime, high literacy.

That said, I’ll gladly sell my spot in all-expenses paid trip to Singapore.

No guns, no basic civil rights, rampant censorship, sketchy imprisonment practices, and enthusiastic state meddling in family matters.

I’ll take my chances in America, warts and all. The bended knee is not part of our tradition.

[CondoleezzaProtege]

Yes it comes off very corporate/businessy to me, but I’m sure the people are lovely and it’s true that it is a very international place like Dubai. So you’d meet people from all over the world. (I have the same preconceptions about Dubai, and haven’t been there either.)

[dfwgator]

Lee Kuan Yew was a brilliant man.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Every time the government gets involved in how many children people should have or who should or should not have children it never ends well.

Now that we have four thousand years of evidence on the matter perhaps we should just stop doing it?

[vikingd00d]

Perhaps, they could just import millions of third worlders who will breed like rabbits, refuse to assimilate to Singaporean culture, soak up massive amounts of welfare payments, and illegally participate in elections so they could vote themselves even more money.

That would solve their population growth problem.