SINGAPORE: The vlogger Nuseir Yassin is well-known to be a big fan of Singapore, and in a recent Nas Daily video, he strove to explain the reason for the upcoming S$70,000 in direct financial support for Singaporean children from birth to their 17th birthday, announced by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong in his National Day Rally speech on Aug 23.
While, in his trademark enthusiastic style, he announced the baby bonus as “great news,” he quickly acknowledged the “very bad news” it’s in the context of—the historic low 0.87 birth rate.
“The average woman in Singapore has 0.87 babies. This is very low!” Nas said.
He explained that for every 100 people, half of whom are women, 50 x .87 is 44 children. In the next generation, with half of the 44 being women, 22 x .87 is 19 grandchildren.
“So 100 people, 44 children, 19 grandchildren. Do you understand this? The second generation is 81% smaller than today’s generation. This is population collapse. It is also an economic collapse,” he said, warning that stocks would crash if there were no babies, as “babies today are the economy of the future.”
Moreover, not having babies means there would be no workforce, no taxpayers; at the same time, there are too many old people needing healthcare.
“So the population goes down, the economy goes down, taxes go up. Countries need babies. And Singapore is worried about this. That’s why they’re paying! The magic number is 2.1. If the average woman has 2.1 babies, then we are safe,” he added.
Nas also noted that this is not just a problem for Singapore, and he began listing the birth rates for other developed countries: South Korea 0.8, China 1.0, Japan 1.15, Italy 1.14, Spain 1.1, Germany 1.32, United States 1.6.
In Japan, he pointed out, a population of 100 million would decrease to 50 million within two generations.
“If we want our economy to grow and our culture to stay, we need babies,” the vlogger said, adding that he intends to have 2.1 babies to keep the population going.
He ended his video by saying, “Everyone should have babies, not for the money but for humanity.”
Though the presentation in his video was quite dramatic and perhaps overly simplistic, Nas was using the same figures as the government of Singapore, as seen in a speech given by Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong at a Committee of Supply Debate in Parliament in late February.
In comments on his video, netizens from different countries noted how expensive it has gotten to have babies.
Others pointed out what a challenging environment it is to have kids at present.
“Given the threat posed by climate breakdown, AI, cybersecurity, wars, and sociopathic world leaders, is it any wonder young people don’t want to bring other young people into this world!” wrote one. /TISG
Read also: ‘Help people have the kids they want’: US has lessons to learn from Singapore’s strategies to raise its birth rate
