There are many reasons why the proportion of elderly Singaporeans increases but two major causes help illustrate the phenomenon. The first major cause is the declining fertility rate. As the living expenses in Singapore are high， it is a tremendous financial burden to raise children. As a result， many people choose to have few or no children. In addition， people in Singapore concern more about their careers than raising a family and prefer to marry late. Some even remain single all their lives. Therefore， very few babies are born each year， causing the number of young people to decrease. Another major cause of the graying population is that the life expectancy is increasing： The average life span is longer now than before. Some research shows that the average life span of females in Singapore is seventy-nine years while for males， it is seventy-four years. This increase is due to two things. The first is that Medicare services in Singapore have improved greatly and are very advanced now. Some diseases that could not be cured before can be cured now. The second reason is that people are more concerned about their health now and are taking better care of themselves. Consequently， there are more and more elderly people in the society and fewer and fewer young people in the work force， causing the greying population.
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——Dr.Wong Lian Aik，Former Director of the Centre for English Language Communication of National University of Singapore