Why raising Asia’s fertility rate starts with giving people time to date

In late September, Singapore’s Reddit community erupted over the government’s new dating platform, FirstDate. Curious to get an insider’s perspective, I visited the site, connected to my Singpass account and watched as my name, age and marital status auto-populated the fields on the page.

I entered my Gmail address and hit submit. The email field turned red: “Please sign up with your official work email. Personal email addresses will not be accepted.”

I resubmitted the form with my work email, only to be told my agency was not included in the pilot. “We appreciate your interest,” the screen said. With that, I gave up.

FirstDate is the Singapore government’s latest attempt to help its people find love, with one eye on the growing number of singles and the other on the declining birth rate. The platform uses an algorithm based on Nobel Prize-winning research and offers users one curated match per cycle. Its website promises “swipe fatigue ends here”.