Singapore’s population rises to historic high of 6.04 million, mainly due to growth in non-resident population
For the first time, Singapore’s total population has exceeded six million, mainly due to the growth in the non-resident population. As of June this year, the country’s population stood at 6.04 million, a 2 per cent increase from last year. The figures were published on Tuesday (Sep 24) in the annual Population in Brief report by the National Population and Talent Division (NPTD) of the Prime Minister’s Office and its partner agencies.
Of the 6.04 million, there were 4.18 million residents and about 1.86 million non-residents, which comprise the foreign workforce, migrant domestic workers, dependants and international students. According to the report, the non-resident population jumped by about 5 per cent from last year. The increase was seen across most pass types, with work permit holders contributing most to the increase (44 per cent of non-resident population), followed by migrant domestic workers (15 per cent of non-resident population).
“The (non-resident) population is diverse, and its size and composition fluctuate depending on our economic and social needs,” read the report. “As Singapore is fundamentally labour constrained, the foreign workforce complements our local workforce and allows companies to access a broader range of skills from the global labour pool.” The report also showed that the annualised population growth rate over the last five years (2019 to 2024) was slightly higher than in the preceding five-year period (2014 to 2019).
Singapore’s population hits record 6.04 million in June 2024, boosted mainly by foreign workers
SINGAPORE’S total population crossed the six million threshold for the first time in June, boosted mainly by an increase in the number of foreign workers and migrant domestic workers.
The population stood at a record 6.04 million, growing 2 per cent from June 2023, data from the annual Population in Brief (PIB) publication by the National Population and Talent Division under the Strategy Group of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) showed on Tuesday (Sep 24).
The citizen population inched up 0.7 per cent to 3.64 million in June 2024 compared with a year earlier, while the permanent resident (PR) population grew 1.2 per cent to 544,900 over the same period. The non-resident population rose 5 per cent to 1.86 million, with the increase seen across most pass types, said the publication. Work permit holders contributed the most to the increase, followed by migrant domestic workers. Overall, the annualised population growth rate over the last five years from 2019 to 2024 was at 1.1 per cent. This was slightly higher than 0.8 per cent clocked in the preceding five-year period from 2014 to 2019.
Singapore population crosses 6 million mark
The increase was due mainly to a 5 per cent increase in the non-resident population, which grew from 1.77 million in June 2023 to 1.86 million in June 2024, said the annual report released on Sept 24 by the National Population and Talent Division (NPTD). The increase in non-resident workers, including work permit holders and migrant domestic workers, helped to provide much-needed services to meet Singaporeans’ social and economic needs, for instance by supporting caregiving needs, and by filling occupations that residents are typically not keen on, such as construction jobs, said the NPTD in a statement.
Residents continued to take higher-paying jobs, with employment growing in sectors such as financial and insurance services, information and communications, and professional services, it pointed out, where the high labour force participation rate remained robust and unemployment rates of residents and citizens remained very low. Meanwhile, among citizens, there were fewer births and marriages in 2023, while the proportion of seniors continued to expand.
Population likely ‘significantly’ below 6.9 million by 2030: Josephine Teo
Singapore’s total population is likely to be below 6 million by 2020, and “significantly” below 6.9 million by 2030, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Josephine Teo on Thursday (March 1) in Parliament. The number of working-age Singaporeans (aged 20 to 64) is expected to peak at 2.2 million around 2020 and decline thereafter.
Immigrants are needed to prevent the population from shrinking in the long term, said Mrs Teo, who oversees the National Population and Talent Division (NPTD), at the Committee of Supply debate for the Prime Minister’s Office.
At current rates of immigration, Singapore is “close to achieving the same effect as if we had full-replacement Total Fertility Rate (TFR, of 2.1)”, she said. “Therefore, we do not expect any major changes to our immigration policy presently.”
As of June last year, the population of 5.61 million included 3.44 million citizens and 527,000 permanent residents, according to the Department of Statistics. Mrs Teo said 22,076 citizenships and 31,849 permanent residencies were granted last year. The NPTD had said in the population White Paper in Jan 2013 that the Republic’s total population could range between 5.8 million and 6 million by 2020, and 6.5 million to 6.9 million by 2030. The 6.9 million figure sparked a public outcry and the Government said it was a not a forecast or target, but for planning purposes.
Singapore population likely to be significantly below 6.9m by 2030
Singapore's population is likely to be "significantly below" 6.9 million by 2030, said Mrs Josephine Teo, who is in charge of population matters in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). The figure refers to a projection in the 2013 Population White Paper for planning purposes, which had sparked a public outcry.
Given trends in foreign employment and the current immigration rate, it is unlikely this will hit the earlier projected figure, added Mrs Teo, who is also Second Minister for Home Affairs and Manpower. She also said, in the debate on the PMO's budget, that Singapore's population is expected to be below six million by 2020, as she outlined the strategies to re-invigorate the labour force in view of this trend.
This was in response to concerns about demographic challenges expressed by several MPs, including Mr Gan Thiam Poh (Ang Mo Kio GRC) and Mr Henry Kwek (Nee Soon GRC). While Singapore is not expected to make major changes to its immigration policy, it has been raising productivity and looking at how to further enhance a complementary balance between the local and foreign workforce.
10m population not really a ridiculous number for S'pore to plan for: Liu Thai Ker
Former chief city planner Liu Thai Ker on Tuesday (Jan 11) maintained that a population size of 10 million is "not really a ridiculous number" for Singapore to make plans to accommodate.
This is particularly so, given the city-state's need to ramp up economic growth to keep pace with neighbouring countries that are progressing faster than before.
The former chief executive of the Housing Board was responding to a question on whether Singapore was becoming too overcrowded, during a panel discussion that kicked off a yearly conference organised by the Institute of Policy Studies think-tank.
HO Ching 26 September at 17:27
As more of our parents and grandparents age, we need more caregivers and helpers.
As we build the city and prepare for rising seas and fiercer storms, we need more workers, from construction workers to architects and engineers.
As we have less children, we need more people from elsewhere to join us to keep this city functioning, from repairing train tracks through the night to serving patients in hospitals through the night.
Interesting studies show that we could possibly have a cooler city by building higher, so that the winds can flow through day and night, and more trees and greenery can be planted on the open spaces.
So with good city planning, not to mention land reclamation for a 3D city, we can accommodate up to 8-10 million people.
Planning norms ought to be updated for wider walkways and boulevards, and bicycle lanes integrated with our roads. We have 14% of our land for public roads vs 14% of our land for housing.
Just as we have high rise, our roads can go up and also go below ground to free up more space for living and play
Dr Chee Soon Juan criticises Ho Ching’s vision for 8-10 million population
SDP chief Dr Chee Soon Juan criticised Ho Ching’s claim that Singapore could support a population of 8 to 10 million through effective city planning. In a video message, he expressed scepticism about the push for population growth, citing adverse effects like rising living costs and mental health issues. Dr Chee argued that smaller populations can thrive, referencing Scandinavian countries that excelled internationally and produced Nobel laureates.
Dr Chee Soon Juan, Secretary-General of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), slammed Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s spouse, Ho Ching, for her assertion that Singapore could accommodate 8 to 10 million people with proper city planning and land reclamation. In a video message published on 1 October, Dr Chee expressed strong scepticism regarding the narrative of increasing the population, highlighting that the current surge past the 6 million mark had been largely driven by the influx of foreigners, which led to several adverse consequences. He further highlighted that smaller populations were not inherently negative, drawing examples from some Scandinavian countries that had flourished on the international stage despite their smaller populations and had even produced Nobel Prize laureates.
Last Friday (27 September), in a Facebook post, Madam Ho, who was also the former CEO of Temasek Holdings, highlighted the growing demand for caregivers as the population aged and the need for workers to sustain sectors like construction and engineering, particularly as the workforce shrank due to lower birth rates. “As we have less children, we need more people from elsewhere to join us to keep this city functioning, from repairing train tracks through the night to serving patients in hospitals through the night.” In response, Dr Chee recalled his experience of being reprimanded by Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan during the last General Election for raising concerns about the implications of a rapidly growing population. He questioned why Madam Ho, who shared similar views, had not faced the same scrutiny.
related: Netizens push back on Ho Ching’s 8-10 million population vision and call for more foreigners
More Singaporean deaths than births possible by first half of 2030s: Prime Minister’s Office
In 10 years or so, there could be more funerals than baby showers to attend as the number of deaths outstrips births among Singaporeans. If – or when – this happens, Singapore’s population would shrink without immigration.
This will have far-reaching consequences, including for the size of Singapore’s workforce and economic dynamism, say academics who study population issues. It will also have an impact on the caregiving burden and the social fabric, they noted. On Sept 9, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Indranee Rajah said in a written reply to a parliamentary question: “Based on current trends, the number of citizen deaths could exceed the number of citizen births in the first half of the 2030s.”
She was responding to Non-Constituency MP Hazel Poa, who had asked for the number of citizen deaths in the past decade, and the year in which this figure would exceed citizen births. There were 24,726 citizen deaths in 2023. This was a 40 per cent jump from 17,691 deaths in 2014. In contrast, citizen births fell over the same time period. A PMO spokeswoman told The Straits Times that there were 28,877 such births in 2023, a 13 per cent fall from 33,193 in 2014.
Fewer marriages and Singaporean births in 2023
There were fewer citizen marriages as well as Singaporean births last year, according to the annual Population in Brief report that was released on Tuesday (Sep 24). In 2023, there were 24,355 citizen marriages, a 1.7 per cent decrease from the record high of 24,767 citizen marriages seen the year before.
However, this was still higher than pre-pandemic levels, according to the report published by the National Population and Talent Division of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and its partner agencies. The annual average number of citizen marriages between 2019 and 2023 (22,800) was lower than the average recorded between 2014 and 2018 (24,000). Brides and grooms are also getting older. The median age at first marriage for citizen grooms and brides was 30.7 and 29 years in 2023, up from 30.1 and 27.8 years respectively in 2013.
Slightly over a third (36 per cent) of citizen marriages last year were transnational, similar to pre-pandemic levels of 35 to 39 per cent (from 2013 to 2019). About one in six citizen marriages last year were inter-ethnic, a proportion that has remained largely stable in the last decade. Among the citizen population aged 25 to 49 years, there was a higher proportion of singles across almost all age groups last year compared to 2013. This is apart from those aged between 35 and 39 as well as males aged between 40 and 44, which saw a decrease in the proportion of singles.
Singapore birth rates hit record low in 2022, along with highest number of yearly deaths since 1960
Singapore’s birth rate hit a record low in 2022, a year when the country also had the highest number of deaths annually since 1960. Official figures released by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) showed a 7.9 per cent drop in the number of live births, from 38,672 in 2021 to 35,605 in 2022.
There were 26,891 deaths in 2022, a 10.7 per cent increase compared with the 24,292 recorded in 2021 in the Report on Registration of Births and Deaths. This was the highest number of total yearly deaths since 1960, reported Chinese-language daily Lianhe Zaobao. The report also stated that women are progressively getting older before they start having children, with the median age of first-time mothers rising to 31.9 years in 2022, from 30.6 in 2018. There was minimal change in the median ages of mothers who gave birth to their second and subsequent children during the same period.
The number of first-time mothers who had university degrees rose to 63.6 per cent, compared with 58 per cent in 2017. Singapore’s declining birth rates and greying population are not new issues, with the Government implementing several measures to try and mitigate their impact.
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