SINGAPORE, Jul 16 (NNN-XINHUA) – The number of elderly Singaporeans, living alone in households, more than doubled from 35,160 in 2013, to 78,135 in 2023, according to the Family Trends Report, issued by the Ministry of Social and Family Development, yesterday.
The number of residents aged 65 and above living in resident households increased from 413,117 in 2013, to 708,656 last year. More than 80 percent of the elderly people lived with their families.
People aged 65 and above accounted for 19.1 percent of the total citizens in Singapore, as of last June.
Meanwhile, the resident total fertility rate decreased to 0.97 last year, from 1.19 in 2013, hitting a historic low, the report noted.
Among ever-married resident females, aged in their forties, those with no children rose from 10.0 percent in 2013, to 13.9 percent in 2023.
Singaporean couples also delayed their schedule to be parents. The median age of first-time fathers and mothers was 33.3 years and 31.6 years, respectively, last year, higher than the 32.7 years and 30.3 years in 2013.
The government issued measures to help child-raising families, such as offering government-paid paternity leave to fathers, building more full-day infant care places, and providing subsidies for preschool education, the report added.– NNN-XINHUA
