Singapore’s birth rate slipped to its lowest level ever in 2009 resulting the Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to ask couples to have more children. Lee said in a message marking Sunday's start of

the lunar Year of the Tiger," Despite all our efforts, we are producing far too few babies."

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

The total fertility rate of Singapore, which has a population of 4.9 million people, dropped from 1.28 children per woman in 2008 to 1.23 last year, said Lee, a number far below the replacement

level of 2.1.

Lee warned that the “Year of the Tiger” is regarded as year of holding risks and uncertainties and some Chinese couples preferred not to have children during it.

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

"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 said.

In his New Year message, Lee stressed that Singapore had to raise its productivity to sustain economic growth of 3 to 5 per cent over the next decade.

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

 Supporting the recent recommendation of the Economic Strategies Committee, Lee said that Singapore had to moderate the inflow of foreign workers, who currently represent one third of the

city-state's workforce. (With Input from Agencies)