Commenting on Singapore's increased spending on pro-family measures to ease childcare costs, SMU Professor of Psychology Norman Li said that for most people who were reluctant to have children, the perceived burden of raising children in Singapore was a lot more than what any monetary policy could cover and monetary incentives were not very effective. He argued that in modern environments that were more densely populated and where people faced high levels of economic insecurity, there was increased stress and anxiety, prompting them to focus more on themselves than on childcare. Prof Li noted that it’s not easy to do, but to get people to reproduce more, it will likely require getting them to feel more secure economically and with their own social status, and to be better connected to and feel supported by their family and friends.
Read more about it here.