One and done: why more Singapore couples are saying ‘no thanks’ to big families

Singaporean Amber Quah, 26, and her partner plan to build a family together after getting married, and they have decided they want to have only one child.

They arrived at this decision after considering the cost of living and inflation, which would mean they both have to work full-time “to comfortably provide for our family”.

“The fact is that two children will double expenses, double education tuition and double the attention needed,” said Quah, a civil servant, and whose partner works as an aerospace engineer.

“I want to have Saturday date nights with my partner without having to worry about whether my kids are fighting,” she said. “I don’t want to worry about how I’m going to afford my child’s education, and then having that worry double as I think about the other one. A toddler throwing a tantrum in one arm and a baby crying in the other? No, thanks.”

Titled “Family Ideals in an Era of Low Fertility”, the report surveyed more than 22,000 people in eight countries and found that respondents had a preference for one child if resources were limited.

Respondents came from Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Norway, the United States and urban China. They were asked to consider factors such as family income, work-life balance and expectations of their children’s education, when deciding on the number of children they wanted.

“The relative indifference about the exact [ideal] number of children may result in couples, on average, opting for only one child to enhance some other family features. This explanation is consistent with observed fertility trends, which are significantly lower than what the traditional two-children ideal would suggest,” the study said.

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