Married couples in Singapore are too tired to have sex, according to a survey published Sunday in the city-state which is facing a chronic shortage of babies.
The survey of 200 married couples carried out by the Sunday Times showed more than three in five couples have sex once a week or less and 75 percent of them cited tiredness as the reason.
"I have no time to have sex, let alone the commitment to bring up a child," film producer Chan Pui Yin who is married to a businessman was quoted as saying in the newspaper.
Sociologists were not surprised by the results which they said were a reflection of the emphasis on career and social status by Singaporeans.
"The definition of success has changed," said marriage psychologist Dr. Frederick Toke.
"It's measured not by your family, but by your career and your good social status," he said.
Tan Thuan Seng, president of the Christian group Focus on the Family Singapore, echoed similar sentiments.
"People are more selfish now, because of the focus on individual freedom and pleasure," Tan said.
A majority of the couples polled placed love as their number one priority, followed by financial security, children and then sex.
Christine Goh, who placed financial security as her first priority, said she would not be having any children.
"I don't want kids," Goh said.
"To me, they're parasites. They're like mushrooms growing on trees, feeding on the host," she said.
Singapore's low birth rate has become an urgent concern after the fertility rate hit an all-time low of 1.25 children per woman in 2003 with only 35,000 babies born in that year.
The Southeast Asian city-state needs at least 50,000 babies to be born each year, or a fertility rate of 1.8, just to naturally replace its population of 3.4 million. Experts say 2.1 births per woman is the ideal rate for constant renewal.
Fixing the city-state's baby shortage woes has become a national priority with the government dishing out a new S$300 million Singapore annual package of cash and other incentives to encourage couples to have more children.
READINESS: According to a survey of 2,000 people, 86 percent of Swedes believe the country is worth defending in the event of a military attack Swedes are stocking up on food items in case of war, as more conflict in Europe no longer feels like a distant possibility, and authorities encourage measures to boost readiness. At a civil preparedness fair in southwest Stockholm, 71-year-old Sirkka Petrykowska said that she is taking the prospect of hostilities seriously and preparing as much as she can. “I have bought a camping stove. I have taken a course on preservation in an old-fashioned way, where you can preserve vegetables, meat and fruit that lasts for 30 years without a refrigerator,” Petrykowska said. “I’ve set aside blankets for warmth, I
FRUSTRATIONS: One in seven youths in China and Indonesia are unemployed, and many in the region are stuck in low-productivity jobs, the World Bank said Young people across Asia are struggling to find good jobs, with many stuck in low-productivity work that the World Bank said could strain social stability as frustrations fuel a global wave of youth-led protests. The bank highlighted a persistent gap between younger and more experienced workers across several Asian economies in a regional economic update released yesterday, noting that one in seven young people in China and Indonesia are unemployed. The share of people now vulnerable to falling into poverty is now larger than the middle class in most countries, it said. “The employment rate is generally high, but the young struggle to
ENERGY SHIFT: A report by Ember suggests it is possible for the world to wean off polluting sources of power, such as coal and gas, even as demand for electricity surges Worldwide solar and wind power generation has outpaced electricity demand this year, and for the first time on record, renewable energies combined generated more power than coal, a new analysis said. Global solar generation grew by a record 31 percent in the first half of the year, while wind generation grew 7.7 percent, according to the report by the energy think tank Ember, which was released after midnight yesterday. Solar and wind generation combined grew by more than 400 terawatt hours, which was more than the increase in overall global demand during the same period, it said. The findings suggest it is
IN THE AIR: With no compromise on the budget in sight, more air traffic controllers are calling in sick, which has led to an estimated 13,000 flight delays, the FAA said Concerns over flight delays and missed paychecks due to the US government shutdown escalated on Wednesday, as senators rejected yet another bid to end the standoff. Democrats voted for a sixth time to block a Republican stopgap funding measure to reopen government departments, keeping much of the federal workforce home or working without pay. With the shutdown in its eighth day, lines at airports were expected to grow amid increased absenteeism among security and safety staff at some of the country’s busiest hubs. Air traffic controllers — seen as “essential” public servants — are kept at work during government shutdowns, but higher numbers