NDR 2026: PM Wong announces major reset in family support

SINGAPORE – Parents will get more childcare leave, greater financial support and pay lower preschool fees, as the country makes a fundamental shift in how it supports families.

The Government wants to support parents more consistently throughout the journey of raising their children, instead of concentrating help mainly around the birth of a child, said Prime Minister Lawrence Wong at his third National Day Rally.

Measures to make it easier for Singaporeans who want children to raise a family formed a key plank of PM Wong’s speech, in which he outlined other plans to equip Singapore to deal with rapid changes in technology and the global order.

These include merging several islands south of Jurong Island to create one larger island that can house new power generation infrastructure, putting in place more safeguards for tech use and adoption, and embracing integration to remain open and connected while retaining a Singaporean core.

Addressing about 1,300 guests at ITE College Central in Ang Mo Kio, PM Wong said that across the globe, the rules and norms that underpinned stability and prosperity for decades are being overturned.

One key reason is that the balance of power is shifting. While the US remains the world’s leading power, China has risen rapidly and is now a “peer competitor” with deep capabilities in many areas, he said.

Many middle powers are also asserting their interests more actively, with different centres jostling for influence and competing for markets, technology, and resources, he added.

The world is more contested, unstable and dangerous than before, and this is the new normal that Singapore will have to endure and survive for many years to come, PM Wong said.

The Government’s immediate priority has been to “steady the ship,” he said, citing two support packages totalling almost $2 billion that were announced in April and July to help households and businesses cope with rising costs caused by the conflict in the Middle East.

But Singapore must go beyond that and prepare for deeper changes to come, PM Wong said, as he pledged to give families greater support and confidence for the future.

He announced that every working parent will get 8 to 12 days of childcare leave, depending on the number of children aged 12 and below they have. More details will be given at a later date.

Every Singaporean child will also get nearly $70,000 in direct financial support, while full-day childcare fees will be lowered to $150 a month by 2030.

Turning to housing, PM Wong said the income ceiling for Build-to-Order (BTO) flats will be raised to $16,000, and to $18,000 for executive condominiums.

This is to ensure the vast majority of Singaporean couples will continue to have access to subsidised public housing, he said.

Families applying for their first flat will also get one additional ballot chance for every child they have or are expecting, he added.

These moves are part of the first tranche of recommendations from a workgroup that aims to reset Singapore’s approach to marriage and parenthood, PM Wong said. The workgroup, led by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Indranee Rajah, was formed in April after the nation’s total fertility rate (TFR) fell to a new low of 0.87 in 2025.

“We want every family to know: if you choose to have children, the Government will stand with you. We will provide more support, and over more years,” he said.

More measures will be shared in the coming months, including at the Government’s next Budget in 2027, he added.

PM Wong said the Government’s work does not stop with those raising young children, with more to be done for seniors, people with disabilities and singles.

“We are putting real resources behind all of these plans because supporting families and Singaporeans through every stage of life is a national priority,” he said.

Looking longer term, the Prime Minister sketched out plans spanning decades that will create more land and options for future generations of Singaporeans.

Recounting how Jurong Island was created and turned into a global energy and chemicals hub, he said Singapore plans to merge several smaller islands off its southern coast, including Pulau Semakau, Pulau Bukom and Pulau Sudong, into a new western island.

This new island can support a new generation of industries, including advanced manufacturing facilities, and accommodate new power generation infrastructure to meet Singapore’s future needs as well as defence uses, he added.

A new link will be built to connect Jurong Island to the new western island.

The Government will also explore the feasibility of building undersea tunnels to connect Pulau Tekong – which is used mainly for military training – with the mainland, and reclaim land to integrate the resort island Sentosa with nearby Pulau Brani.

PM Wong said these plans will require resources, planning and investment over many terms of government.

“Our pioneers built Jurong Island long before anyone could see what it could become,” he said. “They planned and built for our generation and now we will do so for the generations that follow.”

He also set out how Singapore will deal with accelerating technological change.

The country has to guard against risks that are harder to predict, he said, citing developments like a recent case where an AI agent broke into a company’s systems.

PM Wong said Singapore will do its part to bring countries and companies together, and build coalitions around practical safeguards. It will also take action at home, he added.

“We will not embrace new technologies blindly. We will anticipate the risk, and put appropriate safeguards in place,” he said.

To shield young social media users, social media platforms will be required to put in place robust and reliable checks so that the minimum age to use them – 13 for most platforms – is properly set and enforced, PM Wong said.

For teenagers above 13, the Government’s immediate priority is to make social media safer by design, he added.

It will require stronger safeguards for young users against features that keep them endlessly scrolling, clicking and coming back for more.

If a platform’s safeguards remain inadequate, the Government will consider additional restrictions – including raising the minimum age for access to that platform beyond 13, he said.

Turning to immigration and the need for Singapore to remain open, PM Wong gave assurances that the Government will ensure Singaporeans remain the “majority in our own country”.

Even as more is done to support families, Singapore must be realistic that its TFR will still likely fall “far short” of the replacement rate, PM Wong said. The rate, where a population is reproducing enough to replace itself, is around 2.1.

He noted that for many years, Singapore has supplemented its population by welcoming new citizens.

The Government’s aim is to refresh the citizen population at a measured and sustainable pace, he said.

While it welcomes foreign manpower to complement the local workforce and support the economy, it will do so in a careful and controlled way, he added.

This means that Singapore’s overall population and labour force will grow more slowly in the coming years.

While businesses often ask the Government to ease foreign worker policies, especially in the services sector, PM Wong said even a modest easing could lead to a significant increase in the number of workers.

“That’s not the path we want to take. So we have to adapt to these realities,” he added.

Going forward, more of Singapore’s growth must come from technology and productivity – and from enabling every Singaporean to realise their full potential, he said.

PM Wong also said the Government will continue to broadly maintain Singapore’s current ethnic balance, even as it stays open.

“Singaporeans must feel that the Singapore we know and cherish will endure,” he said.

At the same time, it will keep working at integration. Newcomers must make every effort to fit in, and Singaporeans must also reach out with open hearts, he added.

Concluding, PM Wong said the years ahead will test the country in new ways, and it can choose how it responds.

“We face challenges with courage and grit. We adapt instead of standing still. We stand together instead of turning on one another. That is who we are.”

Watch PM Wong’s National Day Rally speech here: