Prime minister and minister for finance Lawrence Wong delivered Singapore's FY2025 budget statement in parliament on 18 February. Among other topics he spoke of, Mr Wong also highlighted the agenda of Forward Singapore, which aims to "nurture a more caring and inclusive society".
For instance, he noted a national long-term care insurance scheme which provides monthly cash payouts upon severe disability in the statement.
Mr Wong also said insurance played a part in easing the cost burden of long-term care for seniors in Singapore.
“With a rapidly ageing population, we have to work hard to manage the increase in long-term care costs, and ensure a good mix of funding support between individual co-payment, government subsidies and insurance,” Mr Wong said in the budget statement, noting that the issue is still being studied carefully.
According to the report titled Population in Brief 2024 by the National Population and Talent Division, 19.9Z% of Singapore’s population was aged 65 and above in June 2024, as compared to 12.4% in June 2014. The number of citizens aged 80 and above was 142,000 in 2024 as well, up from 85,000 in 2014.