Total fertility rate
22
MENTIONS
9
EPISODES
7
PODCASTS
Search complete. 22 mentions across 9 episodes found for "Total fertility rate".
Oct 12, 2026
Russ RobertsHOST
So what is...
Russ RobertsHOST
I wanna start with the total fertility rate, sometimes abbreviated as TFR, the total fertility rate.
Russ RobertsHOST
You will hear that it needs to be at least two point one to be at replacement level.
Russ RobertsHOST
As we'll learn from this conversation, that's not true in general.
Russ RobertsHOST
Childbearing years are fifteen to forty-five approximately.
Jesús Fernández-VillaverdeGUEST
Mm-hmm.
Russ RobertsHOST
So to calculate the TFR, we look at how many children women of fifteen are having, sixteen-
Jesús Fernández-VillaverdeGUEST
Mm-hmm
Adrian TanHOST
Late submissions of love will not be entertained.
Adrian TanHOST
Our TFR is 0.87. Somebody has to feed the supply side.
Adrian TanHOST
Okay.
Adrian TanHOST
I made it up.
Adrian TanHOST
What I want to know is, why does it keep failing badly enough that it has to try again? Now, before anyone says I'm anti-marriage, I have four kids.
Adrian TanHOST
Four.
Adrian TanHOST
So I've done more than my fair share, lah, for the TFR, okay? And for about 10 years, I also ran a headhunting firm.
Adrian TanHOST
If you think about it, it's actually matchmaking with commission, lah.
Audrey MoorheadHOST
CFR provides a more comprehensive understanding of a given generation's fertility trends.
Audrey MoorheadHOST
But the most commonly used term, and the one you've likely seen if you read about fertility casually, is the total fertility rate, or TFR.
Audrey MoorheadHOST
TFR measures the average number of children that a woman will have over her childbearing years, usually defined as around ages 15 to 49, based on current birth trends.
Audrey MoorheadHOST
Research bucket women into roughly five-year age bands, like 15 to 19, 20 to 24, and so on, and they use that information to create a weighted average for the number of children each woman will have throughout her life.
Audrey MoorheadHOST
Finally, you might also have heard the term replacement level fertility rates, which usually refers to the number of children the average woman must have to keep the population level exactly constant.
Catherine PakalukGUEST
you do see a rise in the overall numbers through the 80s and into the early 90s, which we generally attribute to immigration.
Catherine PakalukGUEST
So if you just look at native-born American women, the TFR, that total fertility rate number, crosses below replacement as early as the early 1970s.
Catherine PakalukGUEST
And you really want to look at the impact of birth control technology, which was massively advanced in the early 1960s, right? So the diffusion of the birth control pill from 1960 to 1970 That's when you really see the major inflection point in birth rates.
Jeremy BoreingHOST
And because it's a statistic across population, the fact of the boom after the war doesn't actually impact this number.
AhmadHOST
Welcome to Let's Table It.
AhmadHOST
So I'm going to go straight into it, right? Our total fertility rate is 0.87.
AhmadHOST
And that's why PM Wong announced a whole suite of measures to better support Singaporeans who want children.
AhmadHOST
So in this episode, we have Minister Indrani, chair of the Marriage and Parenthood Reset Work Group, and William Shin, founder and CEO of Mummy's Market and father to a 10-year-old girl.
Keith MagnusGUEST
So first of all, let's look at the demographics of Singapore today.
Keith MagnusGUEST
TFR is at an all-time high not high.
Keith MagnusGUEST
And the population is aging.
Keith MagnusGUEST
Do you know that Singapore is already super aged? 20.7% of Singaporeans are above the age of 60.
Keith MagnusGUEST
And so I'm coming to talk about social cohesion shortly.
Keith MagnusGUEST
But those are the demographics.
Keith MagnusGUEST
Our TFR is low and we have an ageing population.
Keith MagnusGUEST
And yet to keep Singapore progressing, we need talent, we need ideas, we need capital to flow into Singapore, right? And so our population today of 6.61 million, I think that's the number, is comprised of 3.6 million Singaporeans and about 3 million who are living here and working here.
Mark RegnerusGUEST
The marriage rate has dropped precipitously.
Mark RegnerusGUEST
Fertility, which is kind of marriage rates, especially fertility rates, prompted me to sort of use this as a test case or an evaluative case, are now down to 1.1, the TFR, total fertility rate, which is, I note in the piece, is almost the same as Ukraine, which is fighting a war where the men aren't even around.
Mark RegnerusGUEST
Lots of men of childbearing age are not present.
Mark RegnerusGUEST
So it's kind of stunning to think wait a second, you have all your men still around, you're a Catholic country, and your fertility rate is 1.1, which is really, so far as I can tell, is bifurcated between two groups.
AhmadHOST
...
AhmadHOST
when our TFR-
speaker_2HOST
Is so low
AhmadHOST
... is decreasing.
Chee Hong TatGUEST
Yes.
AhmadHOST
But would you be able to, to try and expound on that a little bit further?
Chee Hong TatGUEST
We have to recognize that the TFR-
speaker_2HOST
Mm-hmm
Adrian TanHOST
Uh, but of course, it was mentioned this is just a teaser.
Adrian TanHOST
The, the whole premise is really to bring up TFR, right? And, um, there are people out there who are actually very keen to have kids, and you see them, you know, people who have gone through IVF.
Adrian TanHOST
IVF, how much already? One cycle, uh, 15, $18,000.
Adrian TanHOST
And I know people who've done it, like eight times, 10 times, 15 times because they really want to have a kid.
Adrian TanHOST
And when I say region, we look at similar first world Asian countries, you know, like South Korea, they poured 335 billion Singapore dollar equivalent since 2006.
Adrian TanHOST
Uh, and of course, they have so many other benefits, extra money for newlyweds, et cetera, shared parental leave up to three years, even a government-run matchmaking event.
Adrian TanHOST
But their TFR, 0.8, still the lowest in the world.
Adrian TanHOST
Even scrapped the income cap on its child allowance in 2024, extended it through the end of high school, and now pays about 246 Sing Dollar a month for every child from the third onwards, compared to roughly 80 to 120 a month for the first two.