Tech advances can help address needs of ageing population, says Indranee

Longer lives also allow seniors to extend time in workforce: Minister

- Theresa Tan

While Singapore has to grapple with the twin demographic challenges of a falling fertility rate and a rapidly ageing population, there are opportunities to be reaped as well.

The Republic can tap technological developments to address the needs of its rapidly ageing population, and longer lives allow seniors with all their knowledge and expertise to remain in the workforce longer, said Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Indranee Rajah.

She said at a Population Association of Singapore conference on May 16 that low fertility rates, coupled with longer life expectancies, mean that Singapore has an ageing population without a young base to support it.

"Our resources will be increasingly stretched, given fewer working-age persons. Working adults will face increasing caregiving pressures... and may find this harder to balance alongside work," she said. "Rising singlehood means more will eventually grapple with weaker familial networks as they age." The two-day conference, which ends on May 17, is organised by the National University of Singapore (NUS) Centre for Family and Population Research and the Population Association of Singapore.

Ms Indranee made these remarks in the light of Singapore's resident total fertility rate (TFR) falling below 1 for the first time in the country's history.

The TFR, which refers to the average number of babies each woman would have during her reproductive years, was 0.97 in 2023.

The resident old-age support ratio, which indicates the number of working adults supporting the elderly, is also expected to fall.