Singapore Population Down As Some Foreign Resident Numbers Decline

Singapore’s population dipped by 0.3 per cent over the last 12 months to 5.69 million according to data from the National Population and Talent Division September 24th.

The figures run from July 2019, to June 2020.

Broken down, the number of Singaporean citizens, however, grew by 0.6 percent points over the same period to a shade over 3.52 million, and is a figure that continues to creep upwards.

The citizen numeric is also a number that continues to “age steadily” according to the report with around 16.8 percent of the resident population now aged 65 years or above.

A year ago this number was just 16 per cent.

The backbone of much of Singapore’s financial sector, permanent residents from overseas, meanwhile remained the same as a year earlier at just above 0.52 million despite the global COVID-19 pandemic causing worry across the industry.

In terms of citizenship increase, throughout 2019, a total of 22,714 people became Singaporean, slightly up from 22,550 people the previous year and a  22,076 a year prior.

Of this number, 7 percent – 1,599 individuals – given new citizenship in 2019 were children born of Singaporean parents living or temporarily based overseas..

As of the end of June, Singapore’s foreign population however, declined by a total of 2.1 percent to 1.64 million – a drop attributed “largely due to a reduction in foreign employment in services”, the report said.

The biggest drop in numbers was reportedly amongst those holding legal work permits.

“These trends were largely due to COVID-19 related challenges, brought about by weak demand and travel restrictions,” the report continued.