PM Lee promotes double-paid paternity leave to lift fertility rates in CNY message

Add a 'little dragon' to your family, he said.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called on Singaporeans, especially young couples, to consider starting families, underlining the government's commitment to supporting marriage and parenting.

"We have progressively strengthened support for infant caregiving and work-life harmony, to see parents through their children’s formative years," Lee said in his Chinese New Year message.

He highlighted the government's effort to double the Government-Paid Paternity Leave from two to four weeks, voluntarily.

"Measures like these will lighten the burden on parents, but they are merely enablers," he added.

While recognising that family life decisions are deeply personal, he expressed concern over the declining fertility rates in developed nations, including Singapore.

He noted that couples wishing to have children often postpone parenthood to prioritise career progression, quality time with partners, and personal interests, not realising the escalating challenges with each passing year.

In the Year of the Dragon, a time when Chinese families consider children born to be particularly fortunate, symbolizing power, strength, and prosperity, Lee sees an opportune moment.

Follow the link for more news on

Lee Hsien Loong

Reaching the people who run Asia's businesses is harder than it used to be.

Inboxes are crowded. Attention is short. The executives you most want to reach — the founders, CFOs, and operators who actually move budgets — are the hardest to find through the usual channels. If you're building a company, a category, or a reputation, you already know this.

We've spent twenty years building the room they read. Singapore Business Review is where senior decision makers in Singapore and across Southeast Asia come for business coverage they can't get elsewhere — in print, online, and in person at the summits and roundtables we host across seven markets.

If you have something these readers should know about — a point of view worth publishing, a product worth their attention, an event worth their time — we'd like to hear what you're trying to do.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia