We don't need to raise our birth rate and here's why

The next time I hear someone lament that Singapore's birth rate is low and falling and that at 1.9 or 1.5 per couple, we are not reproducing ourselves, I shall give them this lecture:

1) The replacement rate of 2.1 is out of date. Useful at a time when people were retiring at 50 or 55 and the kids started work almost straight out of school or even younger. Useful when people were exiting this world in droves from their 60s and life expectancy wasn't above 70.
2) However not any more: today, people retire later. 62 is the present norm and soon, it will be 65. Even then, informal or lower paid employment can extend to 75 or even beyond. Today, people are better educated, have more savings, can support themselves longer and life expectancy is 85.
3) Given this scenario of people living longer, some 25 years longer than was the case when Singapore had too many births, isn't it just as well that the stop-at-2 campaign worked so well? Otherwise, we would have more babies coming out the pipeline even as those who have long arrived are taking their time to exit!
4) Then we would be in an over-population crunch: with the young and old competing for work, space and funds. Instead, today, one or two children families have the luxury of keeping their kids at school longer, as both papa and mama work longer and in higher paying jobs, because of their better qualifications. And because couples have fewer kids, they will have more resources left over from their working life to finance their old age arising from a longer life span.
5) So don't lament Singapore's low birth rate but celebrate it as the new norm in the Brave New World in which our demography is rapidly taking on a fresh and positive shape.

Here's how to boost the economy

Does the Singapore Government want the economy to remain sustainably robust? The answer is a no-brainer. Before I go into the how-to-do-it, let me just add that taking this route would also

• make citizenship truly meaningful for Singaporeans
• honour the elderly
• encourage life-long thrift and home-ownership

Here is the how:

1) Set aside at least $1.3 billion per year (assuming 30,000 beneficiaries and $50K per capita pay out) to help older Singaporean home-owners to unlock the value of their homes

2) Use this to give an interest-free advance to the oldest among Singaporeans who are 50 and above

3) Everyone receves the same amount, regardless of the size of the home owned

4) Other criteria 

• 
  
  ownership of a fully paid home
  
  
  
• 
  
  must be a citizen of at least 20 years standing
  
  
  
• 
  
  all things being equal, Singapore-born citizens will get the advance ahead of citizens by naturalisation
  
  
  

5) The advance will have to be repaid by the recipient to the Government if he sells his home, interest free. Ditto, if his home is sold by his estate.

6) After 15 years, the beneficiary will receive a second tranche, provided he is the owner of a fully-paid for home.

7) The advance can be used for anything the beneficiary deems fit.

It's a bonanza for elderly home owners and a neat and meaningful way to recyle cash into the economy.