Why Asia Can’t Undo Decades of Falling Fertility Rates

Singapore has been put on notice. The city-state has long wrestled with how to lift the birthrate. But despite an array of incentives, couples aren’t showing much interest in larger families, or having any at all.

The challenge is shared by most successful nations. Ultra-low fertility is a byproduct of rapid development and elevated living standards. South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and China all have rates of fertility well below 2.1, the level at which demographers say a society reproduces itself.