SINGAPORE – More fathers are stepping out of full-time work to look after their children amid a gradual rise in paternal involvement at home.
The number of stay-at-home dads outside the labour force has risen from about 1,900 in 2022 to 3,000 in 2025, based on data from the Ministry of Manpower’s annual Labour Force in Singapore reports.
They now make up 7.4 per cent of residents outside the labour force for childcare in 2025, up from 3.5 per cent in 2022.
Over the same period, the number of stay-at-home mums fell from about 51,600 to 37,300.
While these figures exclude stay-at-home parents who combine part-time work with caregiving, experts say they reflect a broader rise in hands-on fatherhood in Singapore, driven partly by the normalisation of flexible and hybrid work during the Covid-19 pandemic.
But they cautioned against overstating the shift, noting that workplace norms remain less supportive of fathers taking up larger caregiving roles, and that mothers are still the primary caregivers in most families.
More fundamental changes are needed to move towards a more egalitarian society, they said, with research showing the benefits of higher paternal involvement.
Besides those who leave work for full-time caregiving, stay-at-home dads also include those who continue working in different capacities, said Centre for Fathering’s chief executive Xander Ong.
While the non-profit organisation does not track the number of fathers who stay home, it has observed that more are opting for work arrangements that allow them to be more present for their families, he said.
They include those on part-time, freelance, or flexible arrangements, as well as a growing number running home-based businesses.
Surveys conducted by the Centre for Fathering among 669 fathers in 2024 and 801 in 2025 showed a higher share of dads engaged in part-time work, self-employment or entrepreneurship. The figure rose from 14.5 per cent to 16.4 per cent over the two years.
The proportion of fathers who were not currently working – including those in between jobs – also rose to 5.4 per cent in 2025, up from 4.8 per cent in 2024.
What is common among these men is the desire to be present for their children in both the amount and quality of time, said Dr Ong.
A local study published in June 2025 showed that children had fewer behavioural problems and better test scores when their fathers took at least two weeks of paternity leave.
The pandemic briefly made parents’ childcare roles more visible, helping to make male caregiving more acceptable both socially and in workplace settings, said Institute of Policy Studies’ (IPS) senior research fellow, Dr Tan Poh Lin.
It also lowered psychological and practical barriers for fathers to take on primary caregiving – even if temporarily – as flexible and hybrid work became more common, said IPS senior research fellow, Dr Kalpana Vignehsa.
Pragmatism is another factor, she said.
“Dual-income couples are making decisions based on who earns more, whose job is more flexible and who can step back with less long-term penalty.”
At the same time, more individualistic norms mean couples are less likely to be driven by societal expectations and more likely to choose arrangements that suit their household, Dr Tan noted.
Many stay-at-home dad arrangements are also transitional, said Dr Vignehsa, with fathers stepping into primary care at specific life stages – early childhood, job transitions, or periods of labour market disruption – before returning to paid work.
With more women pursuing education and earning more, alongside the expansion of flexible work, Dr Vignehsa expects the trend of more involved fathers to continue, though gradually and unevenly.
Singapore society is open to moving away from stereotypical gender roles, with surveys showing strong agreement that fathers and mothers are equally important as caregivers, she said.
