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Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong urged young couples to have more babies as the city state battles with a declining birth rate.
“Now is as good a time as any for young couples to add a ‘little dragon’ to your family,” the premier said in his annual Lunar New Year message. The lunar year of the dragon starts Feb. 10.
The dragon is a “symbol of power, strength and good fortune,” Lee said, while acknowledging that having a baby is a personal decision.
Singapore eased egg freezing rules and doubled government-paid paternity leave to four weeks after its birth rate dropped to a record low of 1.05 babies per woman in 2022. Countries including South Korea, China and Japan have also been battling falling fertility rates and an aging population.
Here’s your comprehensive 3-minute summary of all the things Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her Budget speech: Click to download!
This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.
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Published: 09 Feb 2024, 08:14 AM IST
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