A formal matchmaking service has been launched in Singapore for government employees, aimed at helping them find suitable partners for marriage.
According to British media, the initiative has been introduced amid a continued decline in the country’s birth rate and a rapidly ageing population.
Under the service, government employees aged between 21 and 35 complete an online survey using their identification card numbers. The survey includes questions about their interests, habits and values.
However, some social media users have criticised the government employee-specific service, calling it discriminatory toward workers in the private sector.
FirstDate’s launch grabbed mixed responses among Singaporeans, with some considering it as “dystopian” and others saying they would be keen to give it a shot.
On its official website, FirstDate highlights the Gale-Shapley Stable Marriage algorithm which powers the programme.
The FirstDate pairs two equally sized groups of people based on their preferences.
The renowned mathematician Lloyd Shapley was honoured with the 2012 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for discovering the algorithm, which has been applied to public school admissions, medical residency placements, dating apps, and various other fields.
“Ultimately, I think the experience of meeting someone through an application doesn’t change much across the [different types of] applications,” Elizabeth, a 29-year-old who is an employee of Singapore’s defence ministry and is curious of trying FirstDate out told the BBC.
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