Not necessary to get married, say 7 in 10 young Singaporeans in poll

They are held back by worries over careers, costs, but still hope to get hitched, have kids

- Shermaine Ang

Young people are less likely to think it is necessary to marry and have children, but most still aspire to do so, a new survey has found.

They are held back by practical concerns such as wanting to first advance their careers and build a comfortable life, as well as the cost and stress of raising children.

These are among the findings of the Institute of Policy Studies’ (IPS) pre-conference poll shared at the Singapore Perspectives conference on Jan 29.

The survey was done to get a sense of Singaporeans’ attitudes and views towards issues like family, well-being, work and other areas. Held at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre, the conference saw 1,200 attendees.

It found that the young are reporting higher levels of loneliness, and cost of living is top of the list of social issues that Singaporeans are most concerned about.

A representative sample of 2,356 Singapore residents were polled between November and December 2023 in three age groups: 21 to 34, 35 to 49, and 50 to 64.

While 70 per cent of the youngest group think it is not necessary to get married, 58 per cent of the middle group and 50 per cent of the oldest group feel the same.

And 72 per cent of the youngest group feel it is not necessary to have children in a marriage, compared with 63 per cent in the middle group and 49 per cent in the oldest group.

Despite this, 68 per cent of the youngest unmarried respondents foresee themselves getting married, and 67 per cent of the youngest respondents without children hope to have kids.

Across all age groups, the top two reasons for not dating or getting married are that they have not met the right person yet, and that they prefer to remain single.