The UN released a report earlier this year stating that if climate change continues at its current rate there will be catastrophic and irreversible damage to our climate including sharp increase in natural disasters and environmental damage, displacement of millions of people as they lose their homes to such damage, and rampant food insecurity as well as an overall lack of resources as the environment will no longer have the current capacity of production. We, as a collective globe, have been given just over a decade to address these horrific climate changes before they come to fruition in 2030 and eventually become completely overwhelming by 2040 (1). There are many causes for the radical changes in climate that we are now starting to experience, one of the most significant being overpopulation and its intersections with urbanization and social inequity. As the
...population grows rapidly, an equally rapid and proportionate amount of pressure is applied onto the environment (2). Resources are strained, pollution worsens, and global warming escalates with booming urbanization.
Singapore is currently the country with the largest density in population, and considered the most populated state as of 2010 census (3). This does not mean that Singapore’s overpopulation crisis is the most severe, as many other countries have suffered worse environmental distress from the crisis, however statistically it is one of the most densely populated areas in the word. To add to the complexity, the overpopulation solely centers around the older generation, and there has been a massive depletion in the young workforce. This has led to a huge economic strain on Singapore, as the elderly are the largest population pool and do not contribute
to the economy. Currently, there are not enough young people to bridge this drastic divide - and without a stable economy the government has difficult maintaining and funding programs directed at addressing climate change. However, the government has taken action to stop the astounding course towards catastrophe that their country, and the globe as a whole, is on the path towards. The two largest ways that Singapore has aimed to address overpopulation is through encouraging the elderly to retire later and join the workforce for as long as possible while simultaneously promoting “educated populations” producing more children, and tackling the effects of climate change head on by creating “green cities” across Singapore.
The government of Singapore has directly addressed the overpopulation of elderly people in the country by increasing the age of retirement and developing a fund specifically for programs to train older workers to continue to be efficient and viable in the modern economic system. They way that they have implemented this is through the Retirement and Re-employment Act. This Act made the legal age of retirement to be 62, so Singaporean citizens can not be fired because of their age before this time and can not retire with social security benefits outside of this age (4). After 62, the elderly can retire, however they are strongly incentivized not to through this Act. Under the “re-employment” part of this Act, between the ages of 62 and 67 elders must be offered re-employment within their workplace after they turn the retirement age, even if they retire for months or years in between. After this time, employers will recieve benefits of an addition offset of “up to
3% of an employee’s monthly wages” for any years that the elderly are voluntarily employed after 65 (5). The age is 65 because when the Act was originally introduced in 2015, the age of mandatory reemployment ended a 65 but it was extended to 67 in 2017. They wanted companies to continue receiving salary benefits though for those additional two years, so while they are required to employee people for two more years they still receive benefits during those two mandatory years and the rest of the voluntary ones (5). The government also funds programs, such as the one introduced in 2012 called “The ADVANTAGE!”, that provides companies skills to adapt to an aging workforce and gives them financial grants to utilize towards elderly employment (6). This makes the elderly apart of the economy, and gives companies the incentives to continue to employ elders after the mandatory allotted time.
The divide in the workforce has also been addressed through aiming to raise the total fertility rate among educated women and encouraging partnership and marriage. Paid maternity leave has been extended from eight weeks to sixteen over the past several years, and the government also covers a significant amount of the cost it takes to raise a child. According to recent reports from the United Nations, a family with two children could recieve benefits of approximately $118,000 by the time both children turned 13. This covers a significant amount of the estimated child-rearing cost in Singapore (between $177,000 and $248,000) (7). The government has even begun to involve themselves in their population’s love lives - supporting personalized matchmaking and accredited dating agencies, as well as resorting to
more typical measures like expanding better housing policies towards married couples (7). This incentives an increase in the fertility rate, and therefore a greater young working force to help stimulate the economy.
These policies aim to address the overpopulation of elderly and the underpopulation in the workforce, however Singapore has also introduced more direct environmental policies towards curbing the effects of climate change. The country is infamous for the implementation of “garden cities” - cities that use vertical gardens, green roofs, and verdant walls to weave ecological growth and the benefits of greenery and nature into an urbanized environment. The building of “green cities” and green buildings has been mandatory in Singapore since 2008 (8). This directly helps combat pollution and other negative environmental impacts of overpopulation and urbanization. Singapore is aiming to go as green as possible, and currently “50% of all singapore is covered in greenery” - whether on the forest floor or on an industrial skyscraper (9). This should continue to rise, as the creation of “green cities” has not only been successful environmentally, but improves quality-of-life which makes the population more generally happy and attracts tourism which promotes the economy.
While Singapore is still considered to be overpopulated, the government has made significant strides towards change. I greatly support the extended maternity leave - as it furthers women’s rights while promoting the economy, as well as the implementation of “green cities” have they have proven to have a plethora benefits and are aesthetically quite beautiful. I agree less with the strictness of the employment policies for the elderly - however I recognize that is is quite a complicated issue and that if companies
are required to employ the old then more will work and the economy will likely be boosted. I think that companies have the right to fire someone with older age if it is related in inefficiency at the job because of deteriorating mental state or willful ignorance, so I am against some of their stricter policies, however I am glad that their are programs to ensure that the elderly are trained and that companies enjoy some financial benefits after a certain amount of time. The policy that I am most against is in deeming women “educated” or “not educated” as defined by their marital status. Encouraging women to get married to have children, and not allowing single mothers to have maternity leave, signifies that women and their children are only worthy of rest and recovery with a male spouse which is inherently misogynistic. Also, granting money to traditional families and not single mothers also perpetuates this same stereotype. Despite all of this, in the larger scheme of things Singapore is doing quite well in addressing climate change and the issue of overpopulation at hand.
