National Day Rally 2026 – Singaporeans get up to $42,000 extra per child in support

PM Lawrence Wong has announced that parents will get nearly $70,000 in child support per child, regardless of birth order or number at the National Day Rally 2026.

The components of the handouts are as follows:

1. A baby bonus of $10,000 – a cash gift given in the first year of a child’s life.
2. A $5,000 CDA (Child Development Account) grant. CDA funds can be used for expenses like childcare centres, kindergartens, and healthcare providers.
3. A further $5,000 CDA co-matching. Every dollar topped up by parents will be matched by the government, essentially doubling the amount topped up.
4. A $5,000 Medisave Grant for Newborns. This is an existing scheme.
5. $2,000 in Child Credits every year from age 1 to 16, totalling $32,000. Child credits can be spent at places with Paynow or Nets QR. Previously, only the third child onwards would receive $6,000 in child credits.
6. $2,540 in Edusave in primary and secondary school. This is an existing scheme.
7. A $10,000 top-up to the PSEA (Post Secondary Education Account) at age 17.

This is up from $27,450 previously for a 1st child. The additional support is an increase of up to $42,000.

We can see that child-raising support was previously back-loaded to the 3rd child onward. This was in line with the government’s initiative to support large families.

Now, support for children is equal no matter the birth order, while additional support for large families will be forthcoming.

Non-monetary support for families has also increased

Other changes that support families include an increase of childcare leave to 8 days for 1 child aged 12 and below, 10 days for 2 children, and 12 days for 3 or more children. Currently, workers only get 6 days of childcare leave for children aged 6 and below, which drops to 2 days for children aged 7-12.

Full-day childcare fees will be slashed to $150 a month, while infant care fees will be cut to $300 a month by 2030.

Currently, childcare fees amount to over $600 a month, while infant care fees cost an eye-watering $1350 a month.

The BTO income ceiling has also been raised from $14,000 to $16,000, which should make it easier for starter families near the income ceiling to purchase subsidised housing.

Taken together, we can see that the Singapore government is taking our record-low TFR of 0.87 seriously.

Hopefully, these schemes will help to blunt the financial cost of starting a family and allow parents to focus on raising their children well rather than worrying about money matters.