Mating Powered by the Government

Singapore has the interesting notoriety of being the only government-run dating service in the world. Singapore has a population of five million but the population has stopped growing . This state of affairs has alarmed the government so much that it regularly runs campaigns to try to bring together romantic hopefuls.
In 1984 concern over the low birthrate provided the incentive for the creation of Singapore’s Social Development. However, many people feel that the Singaporean government is trying to artificially control the balance in the population of the two other demographics in Singapore, namely the Malays and the Chinese. What Singapore is doing is very controversial whatever point of view one holds.
Concern over negative population growth has resulted in SDU funding computer driven dating sites for college age Singaporeans. SDU works relentlessly at dating tips speed dating where young hopefuls looking for a mate have only seven minutes to get to know someone well enough to decide whether or not they want to get to know that individual better.

The program has experienced some noteworthy success where 3600 people were married in 2010. The government wants to offer as many experiences as possible for the successful pairing up of romantic hopefuls.
Singapore too is almost alone in encouraging foreign immigration into Singapore to keep the population growing and for existing families to raise their brood in Singapore.
Singapore too has not missed out on the mobile marketing trend. Members of the SDU are permitted to send forty free text messages from their phones to eligible contenders. The computer matches up the genders, professions, athletic activities, etc.

To add concern on top of concern the population of ageing seniors is growing dramatically. By 2030 the population of retirees in Singapore will have grown four times but the number of young will be far below that. Many young professionals elect to marry later or not marry at all. The government has provided a rebate incentive so that parents will receive remuneration for each new birth.
The Singapore government is not at a loss for coming up with dating tips to promote population growth. Courses in love and relationship building are taught at the five schools. Singaporean youth however prioritize differently than many other countries. Their main goals are more materialistic where the status quo is held in high esteem:

• Country club
• Condo
• Credit card
• Car
• Cash

The government has spent the last quarter of a century setting the scene for the Singaporean youth to date and mate. Wine tastings, ocean cruises, cooking classes, to name a few have not produced the successful results the government had hoped for. This is clearly an interesting but serious problem needing to be solved in the very near future.