Singapore has launched a government-backed dating service for public-sector workers as the city-state seeks to address falling birth rates and an ageing population.
The initiative, called FirstDate, targets government employees aged 21 to 35, according to the BBC.
The service uses the Nobel Prize-winning Gale-Shapley algorithm to match participants with one potential partner at a time, rather than using the traditional swipe-based system.
Participants log in through Singapore’s national digital identity system and complete a questionnaire covering their interests, habits and values before potential matches are identified.
The Gale-Shapley algorithm was developed to create stable matches based on individual preferences. It has also been used in areas such as school admissions and medical residency placements.
FirstDate has received mixed reactions in Singapore, with some social media users describing the initiative as “dystopian”, while others have expressed interest in using it.
Critics have questioned the decision to limit the pilot programme to government workers and impose an age range of 21 to 35.
The initiative comes as Singapore faces mounting demographic challenges. Fewer than 30,000 babies were born in the country in 2025, marking the first time the annual figure had fallen below that level in six decades.
About 26,500 people died in the same year.
In August, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced new measures to support families and encourage couples to have children, including almost S$70,000 in financial support for each child up to the age of 17.
Singapore has previously experimented with government-backed matchmaking. In 1984, it established the Social Development Unit to organise social activities for single university graduates before later introducing another agency targeting non-graduates.
The country eventually phased out both programmes.
Singapore is also not the first government to use technology to promote relationships.
Tokyo’s metropolitan government launched an AI-powered dating app for single residents in September 2024.
Japanese government data released in July 2026 showed that the Tokyo initiative had been linked to 265 marriages.
It remains unclear whether Singapore will eventually expand FirstDate to the wider public.
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