Singapore’s Total Fertility Rate of 1.20 per woman interprets to projecting only a slight increase in the total population. The fertility rate stands as one of the lowest in the world today and the government’s efforts prove there is a need to increase the fertility ratio. In the past, the government has launched highly publicized campaigns to raise awareness of the shortcomings of an aging population, and it has also been compelled to adjust its immigration policy in order to allow people in who will satisfy the country’s labor needs. The population is set to grow over time; however, the growth will not be sufficient to meet the labor demands that Singapore has due to industrialization within the Island. Thus, there is a possibility that in the years to come, part of the population growth will be attributed to immigration into the country.
Estimates from 2006 indicate that the net migration rate was 9.12 migrants per 1000 of the population. This was because the aging part of the population, although lower than most other developed countries at 9.9%, created a need to increase the task force in the country through means other than natural growth.
With the country’s different cultures bearing less than 1.7 as the fertility rate, the change in the current population is significantly impacted by immigrants over time. Since the early 2000s, the trend in population growth has been more a result of the number of migrants entering the country than from natural population growth.
The annual growth rate in 2012 was 2.5% according to statistic figures released. The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) has been 1.2 as of 2011 with 1.08 for Chinese, 1.64 for Malay and 1.09 for Indians. The Malay fertility rate was 70% higher than that of the Chinese and Indians. The country’s authorities have tried for years to boost the fertility ratio to 2.1 births per woman.
By the end of June 2012, the population of Singapore stood at 5.31 million. The record low was 1.65 million five decades ago, even though the fertility ratio then was higher than it is now. Today, the population is estimated to be 5.5 million. Immigration into the Island has played a critical role in realizing the current population figure. As the government’s recent campaigns to increase the fertility ratio from 1.20 to 2.1 have been futile, the government has been forced to amend its immigration policies to accommodate the increasing labor demands caused by the Island’s industrialization.
The drastic changes in population are not expected to continue in the years to come. Current projections believe that the rate of annual growth will peak in 2020 around 1.40%, before plummeting to a negative growth rate by 2050, which is largely due to upcoming legislature that will limit the number of migrants that can enter the country. These predictions believe that the population of Singapore will be roughly 5,935,053 in 2020, 6,352,470 in 2030, 6,563,055 in 2040 and 6,574,759 by 2050.
| Singapore Population (as of 10/1/2023) | 6,024,525 |
| Last UN Estimate (July 1, 2023) | 6,014,723 |
| Births per Day | 117 |
| Deaths per Day | 85 |
| Migrations per Day | 74 |
| Net Change per Day | 105 |
| Population Change Since Jan. 1 | 28,770 |
Net increase of 1 person every 13.72 minutes
Population estimates based on interpolation of data from World Population Prospects
| One birth every 12.3 minutes | |
| One death every 16.93 minutes | |
| One immigrant every 19.47 minutes | |
| Net gain of one person every 13.72 minutes |
Singapore lays claim to 278.6 square miles (721.5 square kilometers) of total surface area as an island city-state off the coast of Malaysia, earning the rank of 190th in the world in terms of size. The country is made up of 63 islands, the main one being Pulau Ujong which has two man-made connections to Malaysia. Singapore has a tropical climate and nearly all of the land is habitable. The population is very high for such a small surface area, with 5.612 million people living there as of 2017, giving the country population density of 20,144 people per square mile (7,778 people per square kilometer). Monaco is the only country that is more densely populated, and Singapore ranks at 2nd for population density worldwide.
As a city-state, Singapore has no major cities, or cities at all and the country is smaller than many major cities around the world. Instead of cities, Singapore is broken down into towns- each of which has its own jurisdiction. As a city-state, Singapore is also its own capital.
35.6
Total
35.4
Male
35.7
Female
There are people over age 18 in Singapore.
Singapore is officially known as the Republic of Singapore and is located in Southeast Asia. It is an island country off the Malay Peninsula and is 137 Kilometers north of the equator. Singapore is comprised of 63 islands which are separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor. As a country, it has been extensively urbanized and still has a little primary rainforest left despite the fact that most of its land is developed and has been acquired through land reclamation.
As of the end of June 2012, the Island’s population stood at 5.31 million, making it the second densest sovereign state in the world behind Monaco. It’s a multiracial and subsequently multicultural country, with a majority of the population being Chinese.
74.2% of Singapore’s population is Chinese with Malays accounting for 13.2%, the second largest but distantly placed community in the country. Indians also comprise part of the minority group and account for only 9.2% of the population. The Malays are acknowledged as the indigenous community in the Island, although they primarily are descendants of the post-1945 migrations from Malaysia and Indonesia.
The Island has four official languages: Mandarin, Malay, Tamil and English. English is used as a mandatory language in schools and is also the main working language in Singapore.
Singapore is a very religiously diverse nation, with faith systems from all over the world and the stance of the government on religion is one of religious tolerance although the faiths of the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Unification Church are banned. Mahayana Buddhism is the most widely followed religion in the Island, although its followers don’t form a majority in the country with 33.2% of the population. 11% of people are Taoist, 18.7% are Christian, 14% are Muslim, 5% are Hindu, 0.6% practice Sikhism or another religion, all which 17.5% of people have no religion at all.
As of 2011, Singapore has an average life expectancy of 82 years, per the World Factbook. This average is taken from a male life expectancy of 80 and 85 for females. The figure slots the country as the fourth best in terms of world life expectancy. The only countries to go above this record are Japan, Switzerland and San Marino. Life expectancy is the number of years that a newborn infant is expected to live, in the event that the factors affecting mortality don’t change all throughout his or her lifetime. Like many other countries, women have a longer life compared to men in Singapore.
The government is Singapore is what is known as a parliamentary representative democratic republic, which means that there is a president that serves as the head of state, as well as a prime minister that is in charge of both the government and its multi-party system. Singapore became independent from Malaysia in 1965 and has had its constitution since, which the Nation Assembly has the power to amend. The executive branch is made up of the prime minister, president and the Cabinet. Singapore has a single-chambered parliament that creates laws and amendments, as well as supervises the cabinet appointed by the prime minister. In the judicial branch, the Supreme Court is the highest judicial office, and is made up both a High Court and the Court of Appeal.
Back in 1960, the population stood at 1.7 million people. In the last half-century, the population has seen a change of 222% as reported by Statistics Singapore. The country grew by over 3.06 million over the last 50 years and reached an all-time high of 5.81 million in 2018, up from an all-time low of 1.65 in December 1960. Statistically, 0.08% of the world’s population is represented by Singapore, which translates to one person in every 1,346 on earth living in Singapore.
Just after World War II and the Japanese invasion, Singapore experienced a post-World War II baby boom, which resulted in an increased birth rate and significantly reduced death rates. By that time, the annual population growth rate was 4.4%, with immigration directly contributing 1%. The highest birth rate was later experienced in 1957 with a total of 42.7 per every thousand individuals. Starting in 1960, the government chose to fund family planning programs; and after its independence in 1965, the birth rate fell to 29.5 per thousand individuals, while the natural growth rate had fallen to 2.5%.