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Wanna date? S'pore is the way to go!
Wanna date? Baby-short Singapore said Friday it will offer funding to promote private-sector dating services, and to raise standards in the industry.
Wanna date? Baby-short Singapore said Friday it will offer funding to promote private-sector dating services, and to raise standards in the industry.
The government said it will provide funding through a million-dollar ($640,000) fund set up last year.
"Companies embarking on new services or activities that provide gender-balanced social interaction opportunities to singles are eligible to apply," a government press release said.
Successful applicants can use the funds for marketing of dating services, training and accreditation fees, it said.
An accreditation scheme for the dating industry will be introduced next year.
Singapore's government frowns on liberal Western social values but at the same time is alarmed by the city-state's falling birth rate and the trend for people to get married much later in life.
Only 36,000 babies were born in Singapore last year, short of the 50,000 needed annually to naturally replenish the population.
This has prompted the government to offer cash incentives to couples having more than two children, encourage foreigners to adopt citizenship and ease up on previously taboo subjects like sex.
Singapore had a population of 4.4 million last year, but about 18 percent of those were foreigners, according to official statistics.
