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A social media post from tech mogul Elon Musk declaring Singapore “extinct” has struck a chord in the city-state, where demographic challenges, including record-low fertility rates, are testing policies to support economic growth.
On Thursday, Musk retweeted a user’s post in which he referred to the use of robots in Singapore, which “step in where manpower is lacking.” The user also noted that by 2030, almost one in four Singaporeans would be over 65.
In his retweet, Musk added that “Singapore (and many other countries) are dying out.”
In a Reddit thread about the post, which has racked up more than 1,500 likes, netizens debated the city-state’s use of immigration and how it would impact Singapore’s national identity.
“Two hundred years from now, today’s Singaporeans will all be today’s new immigrants. Like we are from immigrants 200 years ago…Singaporeans will always be here. National identity will evolve. Hopefully I will still remain an independent Singapore and not under another country as a vassal or puppet state,” said one user.
Government data shows that Singapore’s total fertility rate fell to an all-time low of 0.97 last year. In the annual Population in Brief report released in September outlining Singapore’s population trends, the government noted that the decline in fertility could have been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, which “resulted in economic uncertainty and disrupted marriage and parenthood plans for some Singaporeans. couples”.
The government also noted that declining birth rates are happening in advanced societies, where more and more people are delaying having a family and having fewer children to prioritize their careers, while attitudes towards marriage and parenthood are shifting, and there are concerned about the costs of raising children. other things.
Leong Chan-Hoong, a senior fellow and head of the Social Cohesion Research Program at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, called “ultra low” fertility rates an “existential challenge” and said: “If we cannot reverse or address this problem it will have a long-term impact on our social and national fabric.”
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