SINGAPORE — Singapore has rolled out a government-backed matchmaking service for public sector workers as the city-state grapples with a record-low fertility rate and an ageing population.The initiative, known as FirstDate, was launched this week for government workers aged between 21 and 35, the BBC reported on Wednesday. It uses the Nobel Prize-winning Gale-Shapley algorithm to match participants with one potential partner at a time.Participants sign in using the national digital identity system and answer a survey about their interests, habits and values.FirstDate’s launch drew mixed responses among Singaporeans, with some describing it as “dystopian” and others saying they would be keen to give it a shot.On its website, FirstDate highlights the Gale-Shapley Stable Marriage algorithm, which powers the program.The mathematical framework pairs two equally sized groups of people based on their preferences.The late mathematician Lloyd Shapley was awarded the 2012 Nobel memorial prize in economic sciences for discovering the algorithm, which has been used in public school admissions, medical residency matching, and dating apps, among other things.But some social media users say the initiative, which is currently in its pilot phase, discriminates against those not working in government.It is not clear if the pilot program will be available to the wider public in the future. The pilot launch comes as Singapore’s birth rate has slumped to historic lows. For the first time in the past 60 years, fewer than 30,000 babies were born in 2025.The number of deaths, meanwhile, has been rising steadily in the greying nation, hitting about 26,500 in 2025.In August, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced a series of new measures to better support families and to encourage couples to have children, including almost S$70,000 ($54,000) in financial support for every child by the time they turn 17.FirstDate is not the first time the city-state is trying to play Cupid to its citizens.In 1984, it set up the Social Development Unit (SDU) tasked with organizing social events to encourage graduate singles to mingle.The policy came in response to census findings that marriage rates were declining among women graduates, as men selected partners with lower levels of educational qualification, a trend not replicated among women.The finding sparked a controversial speech by Lee Kuan Yew, the founder of modern Singapore, who advocated for men to choose intellectually superior spouses.“If you don’t include your women graduates in your breeding pool and leave them on the shelf, you would end up a more stupid society,” he said.The SDU was eventually phased out after being criticized as elitist for exclusively targeting university graduates, although authorities justified the approach, saying non-graduates did not seem to have difficulty finding partners. The next year, the government set up another agency to promote marriages among non-graduates.The idea of a government-run dating service is not unique to Singapore. In September 2024, Tokyo’s metropolitan government launched an AI-powered dating app in an effort to combat the country’s declining birth rate.The app, which is open to single residents in the city, resulted in 265 couples getting married, according to government data released in July this year.Asia has emerged as a key area of growth for dating apps as swipe-right fatigue takes hold in markets in North America and Europe, and as stigma around online dating fades in the region, driving more women on to platforms.
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