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Demographics of Singapore

This was done out of the Lee Kuan Yew government's belief that for the nation to best develop and avoid hardship, the educated classes should be encouraged to contribute to the nation's breeding pool, while the uneducated should not, sparking the Great Marriage Debate.

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Member of Parliament Low Thia Khiang of the Workers' Party of Singapore had criticized current measures of increasing the fertility rate, claiming that the high cost of living and lack of family and social support discouraged young couples from having babies.

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In September 1965 the Minister for Health, Yong Nyuk Lin, submitted a white paper to Parliament, recommending a "Five-year Mass Family Planning programme" that would reduce the birth rate to 20.0 per thousand individuals by 1970.

see also