Promoting marriage and parenthood is central to maintaining Singaporean core, says Grace Fu

Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Grace Fu has spoken about what keeping the Singaporean core at the heart of the country's population policies means.

She made the comments on Day Two of the parliamentary debate on the White Paper on Population and Land Use Plan.

Ms Fu said promoting marriage and parenthood is central to maintaining a strong Singaporean core.

And allowing immigration does not mean the government takes its marriage and parenthood objectives less seriously.

But authorities are realistic about how birth rates can improve.

Hence the need to supplement the population with immigrants.

The immigration numbers though are scaled down considerably.

Taking in between 15,000 and 25,000 new citizens a year, for example, makes up less than 1 per cent of the current citizen population.

She also addressed concerns over the loss of the Singaporean identity with more foreigners in the midst.

She said integration efforts are a critical complement to the immigration policy.

Efforts in this area are being stepped up.