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7 in 10 young Singaporeans feel it is not necessary to marry, but most still want to: Poll

2024-01-29 00:00:00.0 海峡时报-新加坡原网页

SINGAPORE - Young people are less likely to think it is necessary to marry and have children, but most still aspire to do so, a new survey has found.

They are held back by practical concerns such as wanting to first advance their careers and build a comfortable life, as well as the cost and stress of raising children.

These were among the findings of the Institute of Policy Studies’ (IPS) pre-conference poll shared at the Singapore Perspectives conference on Jan 29. The survey was done to get a sense of Singaporeans’ attitudes and views towards issues like family, well-being, work and other areas. Held at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre, the conference saw 1,200 attendees.

It found that the young are reporting higher levels of loneliness, and cost of living is top of the list of social issues that Singaporeans are most concerned about.

A representative sample of 2,356 Singapore residents were polled between November and December 2023 in three groups: aged 21 to 34, 35 to 49, and 50 to 64.

While 70 per cent of the youngest group thought it was not necessary to get married, 58 per cent of the middle group and 50 per cent of the oldest group concurred.

And 72 per cent of the youngest group feel it is not necessary to have children in a marriage, compared with 63 per cent in the middle group and 49 per cent in the oldest group.

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Despite this, 68 per cent of the youngest respondents foresee themselves getting married, and 67 per cent hope to have children.

Across all age groups, the top two reasons for not dating or getting married are that they have not met the right person yet and that they prefer to remain single.

Younger respondents are more likely to cite having other priorities, such as their job and self-discovery, and a lack of time and energy, as their reasons for not dating, and being deterred from getting married by the cost of doing so.

Older respondents are more likely to cite a preference to remain single as their reason for not dating or getting married.

High cost and stress emerged as the top reasons for not wanting to have children across all age groups.

“(Young people) almost have checkboxes these days before they can consider marriage and parenthood. They want to check off their job, they want the ability to have their own home and a comfortable life, being able to travel twice or three times a year… And then the rest,” said Dr Chew Han Ei, senior research fellow at IPS.

The poll also found a gender disparity, where women aged 21 to 49 are more likely than men in the same age group to agree that it is not necessary to get married. Women aged 21 to 34 are also more likely to agree that it is not necessary to have children.

High cost and stress emerged as the top reasons for not wanting to have children across all age groups. PHOTO: ST FILE

IPS senior research fellow Kalpana Vignehsa, who conducted the poll, said: “One reason for their disinterest or reluctance that (young women) have shared with me relates to feeling worried that they will be caught in the double bind of not having equal partnership in terms of running the family.

“They talk about watching mothers burn out from being primarily responsible for the visible and invisible labour of running a family on top of full-time employment, and they aren’t convinced that their male counterparts are ready to be equal partners at home. They have opened themselves more and more to the idea they could find meaning in alternative paths instead.”