Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong urged couples to have more kids as the city-state's birth rate declined to its lowest level during the last year.

In a note marking Sunday's start of the lunar Year of the Tiger, Lee said, "Despite all our efforts, we are producing far too few babies."

"Last year, we were short of at least 10,000 babies just to replace ourselves," he added.

Lee particularly advocated ethnic Chinese to ignore their false notions against kids born in a Year of the Tiger.

The overall birth rate of Singapore, which has a total population of 4.9 million people, came down from 1.28 kids per woman in 2008 to 1.23 in 2009.

PM also said that some Chinese pairs opted not to have kids during a Year of the Tiger, which is considered as holding risks and uncertainties.

"It is one thing to encourage ourselves with the traditional attributes of the zodiac animals," said Lee.

"But it is another to cling to superstitions against children born in the Year of the Tiger, who are really no different from children born under other animal signs," he added.

In its attempts to respond to the demographic challenges of low birth rate and an maturing population, Singapore's administration launched various campaigns and provides incentives to offer up a more pro-family atmosphere for its citizens.

In his New Year note Lee emphasized that Singapore had to lift up its output to maintain economic growth of 3 to 5% by the next decade.

"This means a significant shift in our strategy, from merely expanding to upgrading the economy," said Lee.

Lee backed a recent advice of the Economic Strategies Committee, saying that Singapore had to restrain the inflow of foreign workers, who presently symbolize one third of the city-state's personnel. (With Input from Agencies)