Singapore population growing at a slower pace than expected

The population of Singapore is growing at a slower pace than expected in the last five years. The total population in June 2019 was 5.7 million.

 

However, the upward trend in the number of citizen marriages and births in the same time period has raised hopes that this downward trend will stop in the coming years.

 

 The population figures released in September 2019 are evidence to this fact. The figures indicate an increase in population by 1.2 percent from June 2018 to June 2019.

 

An analysis of the population reveals that the population of the country has grown at a slower pace in the past five years compared to the previous five years, even though the total population hit a record 5.7 million in June 2019.

 

The latest population statistics indicate that citizens make up 3.5 million of the 5.7 million total population in the country while the rest was made up of permanent residents, non-resident workers and international students.

 

The total number of Indians, including non-residents and persons of Indian origin in the country, stood at 650,000 in this period.

 

In fact, the growth of the non-resident population at 2 percent was more than the growth in citizen population which stood at 0.8 percent.

 

The main reason was the rise in foreign employment which rose by 22,000 in 2019. The main employers were the services and construction sectors. This is in sharp contrast to the fall in foreign employment in the last two years which fell by 36,000 and 10,000 respectively.

 

However, the 1.2 percent rise in the overall population was not enough to improve the overall growth rate in the past five years. At 0.8 percent form 2014, it is much less compared to the growth rate of 1.9 percent between 2009 and 2014.

 

The report says that immigration has helped to reduce the impact of low birth rates and increased age among the citizen population and has helped to keep the population from shrinking further.

 

Immigration has helped to moderate the impact of ageing and low birth rates in the citizen population and has kept it from shrinking in the longer term, said the report.

 

In 2019 the total population of Singapore stood at 5.7 million. Out of these 3.5 million were citizens, while 0.53 million were permanent residents and 1.68 million were non-residents.

 

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