Singapore launches FirstDate app to help public servants find partners amid record-low birth rates.
With birth rates plummeting due to record-low fertility rates, Singapore has released a new dating app for its government workers, encouraging them to mingle and hopefully have more children. The FirstDate app was launched as a pilot this month and is currently only available to Singapore’s public officials. Users of the app are required to answer a series of questions about their interests and values as the algorithm uses the data to match the singles, one date at a time.
The dating app is limited to those aged 21 to 35, with its Nobel-winning algorithm looking to put an end to “swipe fatigue” and help users build a “thoughtful connection,” according to a report in the BBC. On its website, FirstDate highlights the Gale-Shapley Stable Marriage algorithm which powers the programme.
Once a couple is paired, they have three days to accept the date. The app also offers ideas for breaking the ice, which it calls ‘date quests’.
“At the end of the day, I think the experience of meeting someone through an application doesn’t change much across the [different types of] applications,” Elizabeth, a 29-year-old defence ministry employee, told the publication.
“But it is nice to know that the likelihood of being scammed is much lower. We’re all public servants looking for a partner, right?”
Singapore’s Demographic Crisis
This is not the first instance when the Singapore government has attempted to act as Cupid for the public. It launched a matchmaking agency, known as the Social Development Unit, in 1984, which organised singles events to encourage university graduates to pair up.
Singapore has been facing an existential demographic crisis due to its dwindling population. In 2025, fewer than 30,000 babies were born in the country, a 60-year low. The TFR fell to 0.87 children per woman, far below the replacement level of 2.1 needed to maintain a stable population. Meanwhile, the number of deaths rose steadily, hitting about 26,500 in 2025.
