Channel NewsAsia 28 Sep 09;
Singapore: The population of Singapore at the end of June stood at 4.99 million according to the 2009 Population Trends report.
The Department of Statistics report, issued on Monday, also showed that there were 3.73 million Singapore residents and 1.25 million non-residents.
Singapore Residents and Permanent Residents formed 75% of the population, with the resident population growing 2.55% in 2009, from the 3.1% total growth over the previous year.
The statistics compiled through the register-based approach indicated that the number of Singapore citizens grew to 3.20 million. This is as the number of permanent residents rose to 0.53 million, while non-resident numbers eased to a growth of 4.8% compared to 10% seen in earlier years.
The Population Trends report also found that the Singapore population is now older with a median age of 37 years, as the baby boomers of the 1970s move into the 45-64 years age group.
There are also more women in Singapore as the gap widened in 2009, with females outnumbering males by 44,400.
While the number of marriages went up to 24,596, making it the largest number since 2000, it also turned out that more people were marrying late with many still single despite being in their thirties.
However, while more men did marry, more women were widowed, indicating the longer life-span of women.
The fertility rate continued to decline with 1.28 live births per female in 2008 compared to 1.29 a year earlier.
Women were also giving birth later, delaying till the age of 30-34 years, with fewer families opting for a third or fourth child.
Households were small, the report found, with a 10% rise in the number of people living alone.
The Population Trends report also concluded that a 2008 new-born Singapore resident could expect to live some 80 years.
- CNA/sf
More details of the 2009 Population Trends report: http://www.singstat.gov.sg/pubn/popn/population2009.pdf
Population rises but at slower pace
Zakir Hussain, Straits Times 28 Sep 09;
SINGAPORE'S population is set to rise to five million, although the pace of growth this year is the slowest in four years because of the recession.
There are 4,987,600 people living here, and almost two-thirds - or 3.2 million - are Singapore citizens, according to June 2009 figures released by the Department of Statistics yesterday.
The others are permanent residents (PRs) and foreigners. In this foreign pool of 1.8 million, the number of PRs grew faster - by 12 per cent.
It shot up by 55,000 to 533,200, partly because of many foreigners rushing to be PRs to avoid having to pack up and leave Singapore should they lose their jobs during the downturn.
In contrast, the number of foreigners - which includes family members of foreign workers - rose less sharply to 1.25 million.
This is a rise of 5 per cent, which is much smaller than last year's 19 per cent increase amid a booming economy.
More than half of these foreigners are transient workers, many of whom do jobs or take shifts that locals avoid.
The bigger foreign pool is cause for cheer, said National University of Singapore sociologist Paulin Straughan.
'That we managed to grow the population in spite of a downturn and sustained low fertility rate is quite an achievement.
'This means Singapore remains an attractive destination for those seeking work,' said Associate Professor Straughan, who is also a Nominated MP.
'Given that...First World countries are also actively wooing immigrants, we have done well,' she added.
But the rapid influx of foreigners in the last three years is going to slow down, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong last month when he was addressing some 1,500 undergraduates at the Nanyang Technological University.
The reason: Mr Lee does not expect the economy in the coming years to grow at the red-hot pace that it did in the past several years.
He said he could not envision Singapore, one day, having two million foreign workers. However, he said a sustained, calibrated inflow of immigrants was necessary to safeguard the long-term interest of Singaporeans.
The soaring numbers of foreign manpower have spawned considerable discontent among Singaporeans in recent years.
Many lamented that the newcomers were taking their jobs, while others felt they were not making the effort to integrate, let alone communicate, with locals.
As the economy began to sour late last year, government leaders noted that the number of non-resident workers could dip.
It did not, even though the economy contracted by 3.5 per cent in the second quarter of this year compared to the same period last year.
Yesterday, population analysts interviewed stressed the continuing role foreigners play in growing the economy.
Veteran demographer Saw Swee Hock noted that the population is always expected to grow because it is tied to the need to grow the economy.
From a national point of view, if the population were to fall for several years, it would be a cause for concern, added the professorial fellow at the Institute of South-east Asian Studies.
Demographer Yap Mui Teng, a senior research fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies, noted the continued demand for foreign workers.
For instance, the construction industry is especially hungry for them to work on projects like the integrated resorts. Also, in the service sector, employers complain about the difficulties in recruiting locals, she said.
Added Prof Straughan: 'Given that our fertility rate is not likely to increase significantly in the near future, it is critical that we are able to remain an attractive destination for immigrants.'
Otherwise, there will be fewer workers in future to shoulder the growing burden of supporting Singapore's fast-ageing population, she said.
The importance of keeping the door open to foreigners is accentuated by the slew of sombre figures highlighted in the report: An ageing population, a rising proportion of singles, residents marrying later and living longer, and a declining fertility rate.
But Prof Straughan feels employers can also do more by offering flexible work arrangement so that young Singaporeans will have the time to seek life partners, build families and even look after elderly family members.
The latest figures also show a slight change in the ethnic distribution of Singapore citizens and PRs, as a result of low fertility and immigration.
Chinese form 74.2 per cent of the population, down from 76.8 per cent in 2000 and 77.8 per cent in 1990.
Malays make up 13.4 per cent, down from 13.9 per cent (2000) and 14 per cent (1990), while Indians form 9.2 per cent, up from 7.9 per cent (2000) and 7.1 per cent (1990).
Residents who fall outside these categories make up 3.2 per cent of the population, up from 1.4 per cent (2000) and 1.1 per cent (1990).
Population growth slowest in 3 years
Lynette Khoo, Business Times 29 Sep 09;
FEELING the heat of the economic downturn, Singapore's population growth eased to its slowest in three years to 4.99 million as at end-June.
The 3.1 per cent growth from a year ago was lower than the 4.3 per cent and 5.5 per cent growth seen in 2007 and 2008 respectively, data from the Department of Statistics (DOS) shows.
The number of Singapore citizens increased by 1.1 per cent to 3.2 million in 2009, while the number of permanent residents grew 10.4 per cent to 530,000.
Foreigners make up 25 per cent of the Singapore's population. The pace of growth among this segment eased to 4.8 per cent this year, compared to growth rates of over 10 per cent in 2008 and 2007.
Economists were unsurprised by the data, which they felt was in line with the bleak job market this year.
CIMB-GK economist Song Seng Wun noted that the decline in growth of foreigners here shows the flexibility of Singapore's labour market.
'Going forward, population growth underscoring labour demand growth will be contingent on the recovery profile,' he said.
OCBC economist Selena Ling said that she believes such deceleration of population growth, especially involving foreigners, is a blip and should improve with the recovery in the global economy and the opening of the two integrated resorts here.
The Population Trends 2009 report released yesterday also gave a grim snapshot of Singapore's ageing population trend, falling fertility rates and a delay in marriages.
The median age of Singaporeans rose to 37 years in 2009 from 20 years in 1970. Elderly persons aged 65 years and above make up 8.8 per cent of the resident population in 2009, up from 7 per cent in 1999.
The ratio of working-age residents to elderly residents has also declined. In 2009, there were 8.3 residents aged 15-64 years for every resident aged 65 and above, compared to an old-age support ratio of 10.1 in 1999.
Interestingly, the number of marriages last year hit a record high since 2000, with a total of 24,596 marriages registered here. However, marriage rates fell across the younger age groups below 30 years in 2008, suggesting that people are delaying marriage.
The median age of first marriage across all educational groups also increased. For brides with university qualification, the median age of first marriage has reached 28.2 years in 2008 from 26.8 years a decade ago. For grooms in the same educational group, that has risen to 30.1 years from 29 years.
'There is also a tendency towards delay in child-bearing,' said DOS. 'While the peak in fertility was in the age group 25-29 years in 1990, the peak has moved to the age group 30-34 years from 2002 onwards.'
Fertility rates have fallen across all age groups over the past two decades, with those in the 25-29 years age group registering the largest decline from 110 births per 1,000 women in 2000 to 79 per 1,000 women in 2008.
But there were slightly more babies born last year, which may be attributable to the enhanced baby bonuses doled out by the government. The number stood at 39,826, a 0.9 per cent increase from 2007.
Foreign population growth slows down
Esther Ng, Today Online 29 Sep 09;
IN A sign of things to come, the pace of growth of the foreign population in Singapore has hit the brakes.
After two years of double-digit increase and five years of an acceleration in the influx of non-residents - since the last time the Singapore economy had stalled - their numbers grew by 4.8 per cent from June last year to this June.
Still, it was enough to tip the total population to almost 5 million in a recession-hit Singapore.
The biggest jump - looking at the growth trends in recent years - was among permanent residents (PRs). After averaging an annual increase of 9.9 per cent over the decade leading up to 2000 - and smaller annual growth rates in the new millennium - the number of PRs grew 11.5 per cent, as of this June, from the year before.
The "period of uncertainty" that has clouded the world's economies - and by extension, has curbed the growth momentum in Singapore's non-resident population here of 14.9 per cent in 2007 and 19 per cent last year - is also the reason for the double-digit increase in the number of PRs here, said CIMB-GK economist Song Seng Wun.
"It's not unexpected ... These people could have become PRs to stay in Singapore or Asia to look for jobs. They ... are using Singapore as a launching pad," he told Today.
Singapore's population density is now 6,814 people per square kilometre, compared to 5,900 per sq km in 2000.
Mr Song said: "For the moment, Singapore's infrastructure is adequate. The infrastructure is continually being upgraded."
The Population Trends 2009 report published online yesterday by the Singapore Department of Statistics also showed that other trends in ageing and marriage in Singapore continue to hold steady.
The proportion of persons living alone now stands at 10 per-cent, from 8.2 per cent in 2000 and 5.2 per cent in 1990.
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