Government's dating website will pay for your first dates
If you're tired of feeling like you've been left on the shelf to gather dust, one country's government could have a solution for you, and will even offer to pay for your first date with that potential special someone. Imagine the hilarity of getting up at your own wedding, retelling the story of how you met and regaling the crowd with the tale of your own government being to thank for your happy nuptials.
It's fair to say the dating world has evolved quite a bit since our grandparents were courting, and for better or worse, social media has played a massive part in this.
We no longer have to pluck up the courage to go over to someone in a smoke-filled nightclub, and while many still do it the old-fashioned way, more of us than ever are attempting to swipe or tap ourselves to a happy ending.
While Tinder is the market leader in the dating app scene, the likes of Bumble, Hinge, and Grindr (depending on what you're into) are all here to act like a virtual cupid and ensure we don't remain single for too much longer.
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Not content with leaving the fate of its workers in the hands of others, Singapore is taking things one step further with its own government-funded dating service known as FirstDate.
What is Singapore's FirstDate?
As Tinder evolves to include new AI features in an attempt to keep up with its rivals, it faces further competition from Singapore's FirstDate. As reported by The Straits Times, FirstDate has been launched to help tackle the country's fertility rates, which hit a record low of 0.87 children per woman in 2025.
Not aimed at all of Singapore's 6.21 million citizens, FirstDate takes "a different approach to dating" as it focuses on government workers between the ages of 21 and 35. Using the Nobel-winning Gale-Shapley Stable Marriage algorithm, you're matched one date at a time, as the website boasts the service will end swipe 'fatigue'.
Singaporeans sign in using the national digital identity system and then complete a standard profile by answering a survey about their interests, hobbies, and personal values.
You're sent one match at a time, with cycles defined by the time it takes to mutually accept a match and presumably meet each other. FirstDate will give you a compatibility score, a description of your potential date, and a personalized note.
When matched, wannabe daters have 72 hours to accept, while contact details are only shared if you both say yes. You'll also be recommended 'Date Quests', which are suggested activities that are supposed to break the ice.
After your date, you're encouraged to fill out a survey on how things went.
Better yet, matched pairs can qualify for vouchers during promotional periods if they take part in activities like trying a meal neither of them has had before.
Having the government cover the cost of your meal and potentially meeting the love of your life sounds like a pretty sweet deal to us.
Overseen by Singapore's Government Technology Agency (GovTech), FirstDate is currently only open to those who work for the government, with applications closing on October 5.
GovTech maintains that user data complies with security standards and won't be sold or shared with third parties unless it’s required or permitted by law. FirstDate users can also deactivate their accounts and request that any collected data be deleted.
What is the Gale-Shapley Stable Marriage algorithm?
Despite initially lacking a theoretical foundation, the Gale-Shapley Stable Marriage algorithm has been used for the National Resident Matching Program since 1952 and was published in The American Mathematical Monthly in 1962. It pairs two groups of equal size based on individual preferences, with the sides typically known as proposers and receivers.
Every unmatched person from the proposers group picks their top choice and is held until they're picked by a receiver.
Those who are rejected move to their next choice in the next round until the process stops when everyone is successfully paired.
Shapley and Alvin E. Roth won the 2012 Nobel Prize in Economics for work including the algorithm, and when it comes to FirstDate, daters are asked 60 questions that dig into everything from future plans to red flags.
The Gale-Shapley Stable Marriage algorithm is the preferred method used by the Match Group-owned Hinge, which just so happens to be the top dating app in Singapore. It's admittedly not guaranteed that you'll find your Prince Charming, with the GovTech site acknowledging that being compatible on paper doesn't always translate into real life.
Still, if your fingers are getting sore from all that swiping, and you're a government worker in Singapore, you could always give FirstDate a try.