Live births in Singapore fall by 11.4% to 29,864 in 2025; deaths rise slightly
Singapore’s natural increase – the difference between the number of live births and deaths – narrowed in 2025, due mainly to a fall in live births, while deaths rose by just 0.2 per cent.
New: You can now listen to articles.
This audio is generated by an AI tool.
Read a summary of this article on FAST.
Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.
Click here to return to FAST
Tap here to return to FAST
FAST
SINGAPORE: The number of babies born in Singapore fell in 2025, while deaths remained largely flat, according to the Report on the Registration of Births and Deaths, which was released by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) on Monday (Jul 27).
In 2025, there were 29,864 live births in Singapore – an 11.4 per cent decrease from 33,703 in 2024.
Meanwhile, there were 26,499 deaths in 2025, an increase of 0.2 per cent, compared to the 26,442 deaths in 2024.
Singapore’s natural increase – the excess of births over deaths – narrowed sharply in 2025, mainly because there were 3,839 fewer live births while the number of deaths increased by just 57.
By ethnic group, Chinese residents recorded a natural decrease in 2025, with 3,071 more deaths than live births. Malay, Indian and other residents continued to record natural increases, at 3,006, 1,199 and 2,231 respectively.
Guess Word
Crack the word, one row at a time
Buzzword
Create words using the given letters
Mini Sudoku
Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser
Mini Crossword
Small grid, big challenge
Word Search
Spot as many words as you can
BIRTH RATES AND TOTAL FERTILITY RATE
The crude birth rate, which refers to the number of live births per 1,000 residents, fell to 6.5 in 2025 from 7.4 the previous year.
The crude death rate held steady at 6.0 deaths per 1,000 residents, even as the number of deaths rose slightly.
This brought Singapore’s crude rate of natural increase – the excess of births over deaths per 1,000 residents – to 0.5 in 2025, down from 1.3 in 2024. It was 5.9 in 2006.
The median age of resident first-time mothers rose to 32.1 years in 2025, continuing a steady increase from 31.3 years in 2021, 31.4 years in 2022, 31.6 years in 2023 and 31.9 years in 2024.
ICA said this reflected a “clear trend of first-time mothers progressively delaying childbirth to later stages of their lives”.
About 47.5 per cent of all babies born in 2025 were to first-time mothers.
The ICA report comes after Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong said in Parliament in February that Singapore’s resident total fertility rate (TFR) had fallen to a historic low of 0.87 in 2025.
The TFR refers to the average number of children a woman would have in her lifetime during her childbearing years.
Assuming the total fertility rate stays at 0.87, it would become “practically impossible” over time to reverse the trend, Mr Gan said, as Singapore would have fewer women who can bear children.
The country’s fertility rate fell below 1.0 for the first time in 2023 to 0.97, and remained the same in 2024.
DEATHS IN SINGAPORE
In 2025, the two leading causes of death were malignant neoplasms, or cancer, and heart and hypertensive diseases. Together, they accounted for 52.1 per cent of all registered deaths.
Malignant neoplasms accounted for 7,046 deaths, followed by heart and hypertensive diseases with 6,753 deaths and lung and respiratory system diseases with 6,549 deaths.
The report noted that figures for causes of death in 2025 are provisional, with finalised figures to be published in next year’s report.
Of the 26,499 deaths in 2025, seniors aged 60 and above accounted for 87.4 per cent of them, totalling 23,158.
The median age of those who died was 78.2 years in 2025, and has been on an increasing trend, up from 76.1 in 2016.
Women had a higher median age at death than men, at 82.5 years compared with 75.7 years, while more men died in 2025 than women, with a ratio of 1,194 male deaths per 1,000 female deaths.
By ethnic group, the median age at death was highest among Chinese at 80.1 years, compared with 72.5 years for Malays, 72.3 years for Indians and 68.8 years for other ethnic groups.
Source: CNA/rk(sz)
Sign up for our newsletters
Get the CNA app
Stay updated with notifications for breaking news and our best stories
Get WhatsApp alerts
Join our channel for the top reads for the day on your preferred chat app
Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.
Click here to return to FAST
Tap here to return to FAST
FAST
About The Author
