rjc_population and demographics/Ng Zeng Woon/10S416

In passage 1, the author states that "literate, well-educated women" with many "social and economic options" in today's rich countries have pulled fertility "below the natural replacement rate". Here, the author is highlighting a key threat posed from population when population starts to go a decline due to the falling fertility rate. This problem is also applicable to my country as my country has a growing aging population which declining fertility rates will not only make it difficult for my country's population to replace itself, but also have serious implications on our economy, given that my country has no natural resources of its own in which to help boost its economy. Today for many young Singaporeans with well-paid professional jobs and career ambitions, child rearing, and even marriage, takes lower priority. Even this may not be true, many of them may delay their child bearing till their thirties,which may contribute to their inability to conceive. The problem for Singapore is that our country is small and have no natural resources. The only dependable resource that Singapore can tap into and help boost the economy is that of human resource. With less human resource, we may have a serious handicap in our economy as well as a growing dependency on immigrants. And this may have obvious and significant effects for our country in terms of the economy as much of the population may become unsuitable for working.

In passage 2, the author mentions a point in which for decades, the world has been "haunted by ominous and recurrent reports of impending demographic doom." He brings out a valid trend where people are being fascinated about stories and reports about the world's eventual doom. However, these trends are unproven and there are no evidence to suggest that the possibility of the eventual doom occurring may be high and likely in the near future. Furthermore, in my country, people are not concerned by such claims, rather dismissing them as invalid and a total waste of time. Hence the views of the author of the second passage are irrelevant to my country.