http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=inDepthNews&storyid=2006-04-27T115502Z_01_SP318861_RTRUKOC_0_US-DEMOGRAPHICS-SINGAPORE.xml

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - When Clara Chng graduated from university, the Singapore government's matchmaking agency offered her a two-year free trial to find a husband.

Young, well-educated, and ethnic Chinese, Chng was a prime candidate for the Orwellian-sounding Social Development Unit, or SDU, set up in 1984 to help graduates find suitable spouses and reverse an alarming slump in city-state's fertility rate.

"I didn't meet anyone through work, and you never know if someone is married or single, and if he is hiding something from you," said Chng, 37. "But at SDU, the men are serious, they are not just fishing around."

Even so, she found the experience "stressful." As she approached 30, her counselor urged her to hurry up because her chances of finding a husband would soon fade.

Some might find such government involvement in their marital prospects intrusive, but Singapore's ruling People's Action Party has often used financial incentives and other methods to influence its citizens' behavior -- from who they marry and when, to how many children they have, and where they live.

For example, about 84 percent of Singaporeans live in apartments built by the government's public housing agency, which sells its properties according to strict race quotas.

The quotas --reflecting the overall population mix of 76 percent Chinese, 14 percent Malay, 9 percent Indian, and 1 percent Eurasian -- are meant to prevent ghettos.