From 2 Is Enough To 3 Or More

The above was the First Day Cover issued on National Day in 1974. What’s so special about it then? It’s probably one of the most popular campaign in the 70s.

Do you still remember this popular logo of the 70s? That’s the Family Planning logo! So what’s Family Planning all about and the changes from the past till now.

All the while I thought Family Planning only started in the 70s when the Singapore population was dropping then. At that time there wasn’t such a thing as Internet for me to check it out haha. All that we saw are those Family Planning posters and TV or Radio ads.

Below are some popular posters on Family Planning;

This one with the phrase “Girl or Boy, Two is Enough” – this was the most popular phrase in the 70s.

“The Second Can Wait” – this one was for those who were married and probably telling them that the second child can wait, no need to rush for it.

This one probably was probably asking couples not to rush into marriage. Look at the age of that couple in the poster…still wait….

What a contrast compared to now! In the 70s, the government was advising the people to “Stop At 2”, that’s try not to have more than 2 children per family. Why?

In 1965, on the average 1 baby was born in Singapore every 11 minutes. Check out this link here.

So birth rate already started to fall since 1957 to 1970. I remember there was such policies as “population disincentives” for couples having 3 or more children. You may read about it here too. So all these were very contrasting to our current “Have 3 or more if you can afford it” and tax incentives for more children. Why the 180 deg. change in policy? Probably due to the very successful implementation of the first Family Planning campaign.

You may take a look at Singapore population from the past. You may note that in some years, there was negative growth too. It’s rather funny that in the 1966 to 1968, Singapore is consider over crowded with a population of almost 2 million then in an area of just over 2 hundred square miles. But now, though we have reclaimed lots of land from the sea, what population are we aiming at? 6.5 million?

Besides Singapore, Hong Kong also facing the same population boom in the 60s and 70s. Below are some interesting TV ads from Hong Kong.

In 1972;

In 1973 (very similar to our “Stop at 2”);

In 1983 ;

I like this ad best;

Interesting right? How I wish to find some of our local ads too..

In 1975 National Day, we also had the Family Planning float;

and the one in 1968;

Credit : National Archives of Singapore, PICAS

And before the Singapore Family Planning and Population Board,what do we have? You may wish to read about the Singapore Family Planning Association (FPA) from the 30s to 72.