More young Singapore residents staying single as family sizes shrink

Singapore

The General Household Survey also found rising household incomes and education levels, alongside shifts in marriage, fertility, language use and religion.

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30 Jun 2026 02:15PM

(Updated: 30 Jun 2026 03:25PM)

SINGAPORE: More Singapore residents aged below 40 had never married in 2025 than in 2020, government data released on Tuesday (Jun 30) showed, with the sharpest increases among those aged 25 to 34.

The findings come from the Department of Statistics' General Household Survey, Singapore's mid-decade national household survey conducted between the once-a-decade population census.

The survey also found that:

Women who had been married had fewer children on average than five years earlier

English strengthened its position as the language most frequently spoken at home

A larger share of residents reported having no religious affiliation

Singapore’s resident population stood at 4.20 million in 2025.

Among female residents aged 25 to 29, the proportion who were never married rose from 69 per cent in 2020 to 73.4 per cent in 2025, the largest increase among female residents.

Among men, the biggest increase was among those aged 30 to 34, where the proportion who had never married rose from 41.9 per cent to 47.6 per cent.

Among men in their 40s, singlehood was generally more prevalent among those with lower educational qualifications.

By contrast, women with higher educational qualifications aged 40 to 49 and those aged 30 to 39 were more likely to be single.

Despite the trend of rising singlehood, married couple-based households with children remained the most common household living arrangement. They accounted for 47.6 per cent of resident households, down from 50.4 per cent in 2020.

FEWER CHILDREN

Data from the survey showed that female residents had fewer children on average than five years earlier.

Among ever-married women aged 40 to 49, the average number of children born fell from 1.76 in 2020 to 1.67 in 2025. Ever-married refers to those who were married before and are currently married, widowed, divorced or separated.

Separately, the proportion of women with two or more children declined from 62.5 per cent to 58.4 per cent, although a majority still had at least two children.

The survey found that more highly educated females tended to have fewer children.

For instance, among resident ever-married women aged 40 to 49, university graduates had an average of 1.59 children in 2025, lower than the 1.84 average among women with a secondary school qualification or below.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN

English strengthened its position as the language most frequently spoken at home, with 58.1 per cent of residents aged five and above using it most often, up from 48.3 per cent in 2020.

Among those who spoke English the most at home, 80.5 per cent also spoke a vernacular language as their second most frequently used language, “reflecting bilingual usage in daily life”, the survey report stated.

The use of English as their primary language was more prevalent among younger residents than among older residents.

Separately, the share of residents speaking Chinese dialects most frequently at home almost halved, falling from 8.7 per cent in 2020 to 4.9 per cent in 2025, while the use of Mandarin also declined from 29.9 per cent to 26.6 per cent.

Among residents who spoke English most frequently at home, those who spoke Chinese dialects as a second language also fell from 7.2 per cent to 4.1 per cent.

The proportion of those who spoke English without a second language also increased from 13.2 per cent in 2020 to 19.5 per cent in 2025, the survey showed.

RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION

A larger share of residents aged 15 and above reported having no religious affiliation, increasing from 20 per cent in 2020 to 23.9 per cent in 2025.

The increase was most pronounced among Chinese residents, where the proportion rose from 25.7 per cent to 30.3 per cent.

Among Malays, the proportion remained at 0.4 per cent in both 2020 and 2025. Among Indians, it increased slightly from 2.2 per cent to 3.2 per cent.

Younger residents were more likely than older residents to have no religious affiliation, the survey found, with 26.8 per cent of those aged 15 to 24 in 2025 having no religion, compared with 19.4 per cent of those aged 55 and over.

The rise in residents with no religious affiliation was observed across all educational levels.

Among residents with below secondary qualifications, the proportion with no religion increased from 11.6 per cent to 16.2 per cent, while among those with university qualifications, it rose from 27.8 per cent to 31.6 per cent.

The survey noted that the decline in Christianity was more pronounced among more highly educated residents. Among those with university qualifications, the share identifying as Christian fell from 28.3 per cent in 2020 to 24.9 per cent in 2025.

EDUCATION AND HOUSEHOLD INCOME

The survey also found continued improvements in education, household income and home ownership.

Between 2020 and 2025, the proportion of residents aged 25 and over with post-secondary or higher qualifications rose from 58.3 per cent to 64.8 per cent.

Median monthly household market income increased from S$9,099 (US$7,030) to S$12,446, about 3.2 per cent per annum in real terms after adjusting for inflation, while home ownership rose from 87.9 per cent to 91.2 per cent.

Public transport remained the dominant mode of travel to work, with 60.1 per cent of employed residents commuting by public bus, MRT, LRT or a combination of these modes, up from 57.7 per cent in 2020.

The sample survey for the General Household Survey was conducted as part of the Comprehensive Labour Force & Household Survey 2025, which also incorporated the Comprehensive Labour Force Survey conducted yearly by the Ministry of Manpower.

A total of 27,324 households responded to the survey, achieving an overall response rate of 86.8 per cent.

Source: CNA/ec(ac)