Family Dynamics in Singapore
NOW
YESTER-YEARS
Family Size
Household Family Structure
Birth Rate
Marriage and Divorce Rate
Transnational and Inter-ethnic Marriages
Family Income
Family members Education Level
Time spent with Families
Family Size
Household Family Structure
Birth Rate
Marriage and Divorce Rate
Transnational and Inter-ethnic Marriages
Family Income
Family members Education Level
Time spent with Families
Family sizes in the current generation have become relatively small. This is mainly due to the fact that there is a raise in price in almost every household amenity and children necessities.
Living in Singapore used to be much more affordable in terms of Education, household expenses etc. That also further encouraged married couples to have more children and live together with their extended families.
Families used to have grandparents, parents, uncles and aunties all living together in the same household. That meant for children to grow up with not only their siblings, but also together with their cousins around the same age, older or younger.
Families in Singapore are moving into their own houses after marriage, which means that children meet their cousins or extended family members mostly during family occasions or events. Young couples hire domestic helpers to take care of their children when they are at work. This implies that not many children are taken care by their grandparents anymore, as much as children did in the past.
Most mothers in the past used to be housewives who stayed home to raise their children. This made children bond closer with their mothers. In addition, fathers did not have to work overtime that often to earn additional cash for their living due to an inexpensive living. Thus, children were able to spend more time at home with their parents, grandparents and other family members. As children grew up, some of them also continued any family businesses which further strengthened the bond between families.
In most families these days, especially with newly wedded couples, both parents go to work. This would mean for the child to attend childcare for 12 hours a day. When the child comes back home, parents only get to spend very few hours with children. Parents these days become 'weekend parents' where they only get to spend proper quality time with their children over the weekends. Thus, children spend very little time with their families.
Family income was mainly dependent on the father's salary as most men were the sole breadwinners in families. This is also meant to say that, the family could only rely on the father's income to run the family for its expenses etc.
Due to the fact that most women (mothers), are also working in the current generation, the family income has become double. This would mean to say that the family expenses can be better managed with more revenue. With lesser children in families, most families are also able to better afford and provide education and facilities for their children.
According to statistics, birth rate in the past used to be much higher and couples chose to have more than 3 to 4 children in a family. Thus, families had a minimum of at least 5-6 members excluding grandparents and extended relatives who lived together in the same household.
Birth rate in the current generation has declined over the years as young couples chose to have not more than 2 children. This is also due to the rising costs of living in Singapore. families have become smaller and not many children live with their grandparents.
As the upcoming generation is becoming more open minded to inter-racial marriages, there are many children who come from families with parents from two different racial groups.
Parents in the past used to be more strict with their children in terms of the partners that they chose for themselves. This would also mean to say that most people got married to partners of the same ethnic group. Thus, there were much lesser children who came from families where both parents are from different ethnic groups.
There was not much emphasis on education in the past. For example, preschool education was not compulsory which implied that not many parents were sent to school when they were of preschool age itself. Most parents also started working from their teenage years such as 16 years of age. Hence most parents and family members were not that educated as they dropped education at an earlier age itself.
The Government has made preschool education compulsory as it considers education as a basic right for every child regardless of how rich or poor he/she is. This has made parents continue their education level even if they had initially stopped it as there are courses available for different faculties. Thus, many children come from families where their parents and other members of the family are educated and knowledgeable in different career fields.
There is a decline in the number of marriages over the years as more women prefer to remain single and upgrade themselves professionally in their career. Hence, online statistics reveal that there are fewer marriages that occur in a year. As for the number of divorces, there has been an increase due to impulsive decisions made by young couples. Thus there is an increasing number of children who come from single-parent families due to divorce.
In the past, most couples got married when they were much younger and due to higher number of child birth (population), it directly affected the large number of marriage rates. Divorce rates were also on the decline as couples lived with their parents and other extended relatives who helped keep families together.