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16-year-old student writes ST forum letter saying women should do NS to boost S'pore's birth rate "We can boost Singapore's birth rate by making it compulsory for women to serve national service alongside men," 16-year-old student Wang Lixin wrote in a Straits Times (ST) forum letter. The letter, titled "Voices of youth: Let women serve National Service to help raise birth rates", suggested that women should serve NS. One reason given was that it would increase the size of our defence force. Another main reason: birth rates. In the letter, Wang explained that women will interact with men during national service, and this would enable relationships to be forged. Although not explicitly stated, it is implied that these relationships would then result in marriages and offspring at some point. Wang also added that the approach of having both men and women serve NS in Israel has been "effective", with their birth rate of 20 births per 1,000 people for a population of around nine million. Singapore, however, has 8.5 births per 1,000 people for a population of 5.69 million.