NewsTracker Answers for week of Oct. 05, 2026

Q: The government of Singapore has added a dating app to its efforts to encourage residents of the wealthy island city-state to have more babies as it struggles with an aging population and low birth rate. Where is Singapore, at the southeast tip of the Malay Peninsula and northeast of the island of Sumatra in Southeast Asia?

Circle the area on this map

Q: Singapore’s “FirstDate” app is currently open to government employees aged 21 to 35. The government already offers generous financial incentives to new parents as it tries to boost a fertility rate of only 0.87 births per woman. Which Asian nation has an even lower fertility rate?

A. China

B. Japan

C. South Korea

D. Thailand

C. South Korea’s fertility rate of 0.76 births per woman is the lowest of any sovereign nation. China, Japan, and Thailand have higher fertility rates than Singapore, but they are all still well below the population replacement rate of 2.1. Fertility rates in low-income countries are more than three times higher than those in high-income nations.

Q: Singapore’s 6.1 million people are the world’s second-richest when the nation’s gross income is divided by the number of residents, according to a World Bank list for 2023-24. Which other island nation was even wealthier?

A. Bermuda

B. Iceland

C. Ireland

D. Malta

A. Bermuda’s annual gross income per person was $129,100, compared with $126,190 in Singapore, $81,740 in Iceland, $99,180 in Ireland, and $60,490 in Malta. Burundi in East Africa ranked as the poorest nation, with a gross national income of only $1,200 per person. It has a fertility rate of 4.57 births per woman.

Q: Children born in Singapore are far more likely to get a better education, enjoy more wealth, and live much longer than children born in most of the world. Those are the factors the United Nations uses to measure a nation’s human development. Which island nation topped the UN list?

A. Bermuda

B. Iceland

C. Ireland

D. Malta

B. Iceland ranked first on the UN Human Development Index, followed by Norway, Switzerland, and Denmark. Singapore ranked 13th, and the United States ranked 17th on the 2023 list of 193 nations.

Q: Like many of the world’s developed nations, Singapore is worried about having enough younger workers to support an aging population. Which of the world’s three sovereign city-states has the world’s oldest median age?

A. Monaco

B. Singapore

C. Vatican City

C. The 0.19-square-mile Vatican City has a population of less than 1,000 people – half older than the median age of 56.21 and half younger. Tiny Monaco is the second-oldest nation, with a median of 53.11 years. Singapore, the largest and most independent city-state, has a median age of 36.77 years, which is younger than the United States' median of 38.71 years.