Poverty Line in Singapore

Ms Tan Su Shan asked the Minister for Social and Family Development whether the Ministry can elaborate on why it is not practical to have a defined poverty line as one part of a set of other policy indicators to be used to combat poverty in Singapore.

The Government has been stepping up efforts to support Singaporeans who need help. We have chosen to have broader definitions of groups we seek to help, clear criteria to help us identify them, and appropriate assistance schemes for them. For essential needs, such as housing and healthcare, or developmental areas, such as early childhood development and education, our subsidies cover a wider group of Singaporeans, with higher levels of subsidies for the lower income. On top of these, programmes, such as Workfare and ComCare, provide additional assistance to a smaller group of low-income Singaporeans who need extra support.

Information on the criteria of the various schemes is made known, and the numbers of people helped are regularly published or announced. Household and worker incomes are also publicly available. Collectively, such information provides some insights on the numbers and needs of the lower income in Singapore.

Different countries use different methods to identify and assist their needy. While some Asian countries like Hong Kong have official poverty lines, others like South Korea do not.

We have decided to have different criteria to identify groups of Singaporeans who require support, depending on the purpose. In other words, we have multiple lines of assistance instead of a single poverty line. We believe this approach is more flexible. It allows us to extend assistance to more people and tailor assistance to different groups and needs.

A single official poverty line to identify the "poor" or to assess the efficacy of our schemes is one-dimensional. It has limitations in informing policies as it does not take into account the differing nature of needs, such as housing, health, employment, family issues. Neither does it provide useful information on the depth or intensity of the needs of low-income families.

Also, a single poverty line is not without potential downsides, as seen from the experience of some countries. For some, it has become the single determining line for different help schemes, leading to a "cliff effect" where

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those below the line are guaranteed a whole range of help and those above receive none, regardless of actual needs. There are also concerns regarding social stigmatisation that can result from those who fall under the line being labelled as poor or needy.

There will always be a segment of our society who are vulnerable and, despite their best efforts, need help to cope. The Government is committed to do more to help them. We will continue to review our assistance schemes regularly so that they remain relevant. We will also continue to develop different indicators to improve our understanding of the numbers and needs of low-income families in Singapore.

The Government cannot do this alone. We will work with community organisations and kind-hearted Singaporeans who have been playing a crucial role in helping the needy in Singapore.

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