dailynewsnblog
Singapore has launched a dating platform, the latest social-engineering experiment by the city-state’s government to tackle its fast-declining fertility rate.
The initiative, known as FirstDate, opened under a pilot scheme this month for public sector employees aged 21-35 and uses a Nobel Economics Prize-winning matchmaking algorithm. An additional tool suggests date activities and allows users — who receive only one match at a time — to rate their experience in a survey.
The platform is the product of the annual hackathon held by the Singapore government’s technology agency earlier this year.
“FirstDate started with a question among a group of GovTech officers: does having more potential matches necessarily make it easier to find a suitable match?” the website said.
The app, which joins a crowded field of dating apps as well as more bespoke matchmaking services, is Singapore’s latest effort to reverse its falling birth rate, which has made the city-state one of the world’s fastest-ageing countries.
Here is more from Owen Walker at the FT.
