We interview about 20-30 people. We did the survey question in pairs.We went to NEX and J8 NTUC to interview people and we met Ms Mok at J8 NTUC.We interview her and she gives ask alot of comment about our project.
We asked the following questions:
1. Are you married? If so, how many children do you have or intend to have? If not, how manve children do you want to have after you get married?
2. Why do you want to have children? or Why don't you want to have children?
3. Why don't you want to have more children?
4. What other reasons do you think why Singaporeans don't want to have children?
5. Why do you think the government is concerned about the low birthrate?
6. What do you think the government can do to encourage you or other people to give birth to more children?
Results & Analysis
Half of the people we interviewed,15 were already married, 5 were single but intending to get married, and 2 didn't want to get married. The 2 who didn't want to get married said that they wants to concentrate on their career and they does not want to be tied down by a family.
Out of the 15 who want to get married, only 6 wanted to have children. The 2 who didn't want children said that children were too expensive in Singapore, and he and his wife have agreed that they would rather spend time between themselves. The other 6 mostly wanted 1-3 children. They said that children are fun, interesting and makes a family complete. Some wanted children so that they can take care of them when the parents are old.
All 5 said didn't want to have more than three children because of the high cost of living in Singapore. 2 stated that there is not enough space in the house for more than three children.6 also feel that Singapore life is too stressful and competitive to bring up a child.
Many shared that Singapore is concerned about this issue because Singapore needs people to help the economy grow. They also feel that if Singapore have very low birth rate, there will be lack of manpower in case of defense.
Some solutions shared by the 20 people include giving fathers more paternity leave so that fathers can be more involved. They would also want the government to subsidise childcare centres more since it is very expensive.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we found that actually more people wanted to have children, but they do not want to have more than 1-3 children due to the high cost of living in Singapore. The government can help by giving fathers more leave and subsidise childcare centres.
This project helps us to learn more about Singapore and its low birthrate. We had an interesting experience as we learnt how to craft a survey and also how to write a blog. It was not easy as we had to interview people and we had met with some difficult people. Here are the individual reflections and contributions of our group members
