Enhancing Health and Well-being for Childless Older Adults and Those with Limited Kin Availability: Translating Research into Policy and Practice

Significance: The proportion and number of childless older adults are rising across many Asian countries (He et al., 2022; Verdery et al., 2019), particularly in East and Southeast Asia, where countries such as Singapore, South Korea, and Thailand have recorded some of the world’s lowest total fertility rates in recent decades (United Nations, 2024). As a result, Singapore now has one of the highest rates of childless middle-aged and older adults globally (Ho et al., 2023; Teerawichitchainan & Ha, 2024). Currently, approximately 15% of Singaporeans aged 60 and above are aging without children (Yeung & Hu, 2018), and this proportion is expected to increase rapidly in the near future. Among Singaporean women born in the late 1970s, nearly 30% are permanently childlessness, a level surpassing that of many Western countries (Sabotka, 2021).

Childless aging represents one of various forms of aging with limited family ties, alongside experiences such as kinlessness, sole family survivorship, widowhood, or having geographically distant family members. These demographic shifts raise significant concerns about caregiving and social support in later life, particularly in societies where adult children have traditionally played a central role in old-age support and caregiving (Qualls, 2021). Despite the growing urgency of this issue, childless aging and aging with limited family ties have received limited systematic attention from researchers and policymakers in Singapore and across Asia. The recently completed Childless Aging in Singapore and Thailand (CAST) project has generated scientific evidence to enhance our understanding of childlessness in midlife and late adulthood, with important implications for eldercare policies and the integration of technology to support this unique and rapidly growing segment of the older populations.