"These improvements have provided couples with a favourable environment to make important decisions - marriage and setting up a family," said Dr Kang Soon-Hock, head of the social science core at SIM University.
Still, the population will continue to age, so the Government will continue its calibrated approach to immigration, taking in between 15,000 and 25,000 new citizens each year, said the NPTD. It has also given PR status to about 30,000 foreigners yearly since 2009 to keep numbers stable and maintain a pool of suitable candidates for citizenship. Most PRs are in the "prime working ages" of 25 to 49.
Said the NPTD: "Immigration helps to balance the shrinking and ageing of our citizen population."