Demographics of Singapore

Major religions include Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Taoism and Hinduism, although about 20 percent of residents have no religion. More minor religions such as Judaism and Sikhism also maintain a presence. Non-residents, whose numbers have risen sharply since the 1990s and accounted for nearly 30 percent of the total population in 2020, are excluded from resident statistics and may originate from a wide range of nationalities beyond the CMIO framework. Officially, mixed-race Singaporeans are typically assigned their father's race, though their identity card may also reflect both parents' ethnicities.

Singapore has four official languages: English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil. Malay holds the status of national language, while English is the main working language. The education system is bilingual, with English as the medium of instruction and a second language, usually Malay, Mandarin or Tamil, also required. Singlish, a contact language, is commonly spoken in informal settings across all major ethnic groups.

In 2024, the resident total fertility rate (TFR) was 0.97, with Chinese at 0.83, Malays at 1.58, and Indians at 0.91. Singapore had one of the world's eight lowest TFRs in 2023.

History

Population growth

Historically, the Orang Seletar—the division of Orang Laut or Sea Nomads, which is closely related to Malays—formed Singapore's main population until the arrival of the British in 1819.

Population growth in Singapore was fuelled by immigration for a long period of time, starting soon after Stamford Raffles landed in Singapore in 1819, when the population of the island was estimated to be around 1,000. The first official census taken in January 1824 showed that the resident population of Singapore had grown to 10,683: 4,580 Malays, 3,317 Chinese, 1,925 Bugis, 756 natives of India, 74 Europeans, 16 Armenians, and 15 Arabs. Chinese males greatly outnumbered the females; in the 1826 population figures there were 5,747 Chinese males but only 341 Chinese females, in contrast to 2,501 Malay males and 2,289 Malay females. The figures for around a thousand Indians in 1826 were also similarly skewed towards male – 209 male and 35 female Bengalis, 772 males and 5 females from the Coromandel Coast. By 1836, the population figure had risen to 29,980, and marked a change in demographics as the Malays were outnumbered for the first time; 45.9% of the population were Chinese versus 41.9% for Malays (including Javanese and Bugis). Women from China were discouraged from emigrating, and most of the Chinese females in this early period of Singapore were likely nyonyas from Malacca; it was noted in 1837 that there were no Chinese women in Singapore who had emigrated directly from China.

The imbalance of the sexes continued for a long period, for example, the 1901 census figures show that there were 130,367 Chinese males compared to 33,674 Chinese females. Such imbalance also meant that fewer people were born in early Singapore, and in the first hundred years, most of the Chinese population in Singapore were immigrants. By the late 1890s, only around 10% of the Chinese population in Singapore were born there. Many of the early migrant workers from China and India did not intend to settle permanently to raise their families in Singapore; they worked to send back remittance to their families back home, and would return to China or India after they had earned enough money. Later an increasing number of Chinese chose to settle permanently in Singapore, especially in the 1920s when it became more favourable to stay in Singapore rather than returning to China. Change in social attitude in the modern era also meant that Chinese women were freer to emigrate from China, and the sex ratio began to normalise. This gradual normalisation of sex ratio led to an increase in the number of native births. Immigration continued to be the main reason for the Chinese population increase in Singapore until the 1931–1947 period when the natural increase in population surpassed the net immigration figure.

After World War II, in the period from 1947 to 1957, Singapore saw a massive population increase mostly due to increased number of native births. The birth rate rose and the death rate fell; the average annual growth rate was 4.4%, of which 1% was due to immigration; Singapore experienced its highest birth rate in 1957 at 42.7 per thousand individuals. (This was also the same year the United States saw its peak birth rate.)

Immigration to Singapore also fell sharply after Singapore independence due to tighter control of immigration from Malaysia and other countries. The population increase became dominated by native births with 315,400 in the 1970–1980 period due to natural increase compared to 24,000 from net migration. However, a lower rate of natural growth in population and the need for low-skill labour resulted in a deliberate shift in policy by the Singapore government to allow more foreigners to live and work in the country, and net migration increased in the 1980–1990 period to nearly 200,000. By the decade of 1990–2000, the net migrant number of over 600,000 had surpassed the natural growth of the population, and accounted for nearly two-thirds of the population increase. The same high level of immigration is also seen in the next decade with 664,083 net migration recorded.

Due to the continued low birth rate, amongst other reasons, the Singapore government has varied its immigration policy over the years. As the demand for labour grew with industrialisation, foreign talent with professional qualifications as well as less-skilled foreign workers has made up a significant and increasing proportion of Singapore's total population since the 2000s and 2010s. Curbs on immigration, however, began to be implemented in the 2010s to ease increasing social issues arising from the high level of immigration.

Population planning

The post-war boom in births led to an interest in family planning, and by 1960, the government publicly funded and supported family planning programmes. After independence in 1965, the birth rate had fallen to 29.5 per thousand individuals, and the natural growth rate had fallen to 2.5%. Birth rates in the 1960s were still perceived as high by the government; on average, a baby was born every 11 minutes in 1965. Kandang Kerbau Hospital (KKH)—which specialised in women's health and was the most popular hospital to have children—saw over 100 deliveries per day in 1962. In 1966, KKH delivered 39835 babies, earning it a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for "largest number of births in a single maternity facility" for ten years. Because there was generally a massive shortage of beds in that era, mothers with routine deliveries were discharged from hospitals within 24 hours.

In September 1965 the Minister for Health, Yong Nyuk Lin, submitted a white paper to Parliament, recommending a "Five-year Mass Family Planning programme" that would reduce the birth rate to 20.0 per thousand individuals by 1970. In 1966, the Family Planning and Population Board (FPPB) had been established based on the findings of the white paper, providing clinical services and public education on family planning.

By 1970, the Stop at Two campaign was firmly established, implementing incentives, disincentives and public exhortation to discourage families from having more than two children. After 1975, the fertility rate declined below replacement level, in a sign that Singapore was undergoing the demographic transition. In 1983, the Graduate Mothers' Scheme was implemented in an attempt to get educated women, especially women with a university degree, to marry and procreate, while the government encouraged women without an O-level degree to get sterilised. This was done out of the Lee Kuan Yew government's belief that for the nation to best develop and avoid hardship, the educated classes should be encouraged to contribute to the nation's breeding pool, while the uneducated should not, sparking the Great Marriage Debate.

In 1986, the government reversed its population policy—except its stance on low-income, lowly-educated women—and initiated the Have Three or More (if you can afford it) campaign, offering cash and public administration incentives to have children. In 2001, the Singapore government started its Baby Bonus scheme.

Singapore has one of the lowest fertility rates in the world. In 2012, Singapore total fertility rate (TFR) was 1.20 children born per woman, a sub-replacement fertility rate. Ethnic Chinese had a fertility of 1.07 in 2004 (1.65 in 1990), while Malays had a TFR of 2.10 (2.69 in 1990). Both figures declined further in 2006. TFR for Indians was 1.30 in 2004 and 1.89 in 1990. The Singapore government has launched several highly publicised attempts to raise the fertility rate and increase awareness of the negative effects of an ageing population, the elderly (65 and above) had constituted 9.9% of its population in 2012; this proportion is still significantly lower than that of many other developed nations, such as the United States and Japan. In February 2015, National University of Singapore launched the "New Age Institute" in conjunction with Washington University in St. Louis to conduct research on this issue.

In 2025, Singapore’s fertility rate reached a historic low of 0.87 projected to fall to 0.76 by 2026 based on recent births according to demoriaresearch.com

Area planning

The population of Singapore are generally housed within new towns, which are large scale satellite housing developments designed to be self contained. It includes public housing units, private housing, a town centre and other amenities. Since the 1950s, Singapore had a city centre surrounded by slums and squatter colonies. By 1959 when Singapore attained self government, the problem of housing shortage had grown. Combined with a fast population growth, it led to congestion and squalor. The new towns planning concept was introduced in July 1952 by the country's public housing authority, Housing and Development Board (HDB), to counter the housing shortage problem and to relocate most of the population crammed within the city centre to other parts of the island. Today, there are 23 new towns and 3 estates within the country, with Bedok being the largest by area and population.

Population White Paper

In early 2013, the Parliament of Singapore debated the policies set out in the Population White Paper (PWP) titled A Sustainable Population for a Dynamic Singapore. The White Paper noted that by 2030, around 900,000 baby boomers would make up one quarter of the citizen population and that the workforce would begin to shrink "from 2020 onwards". It projected that by 2030, Singapore's total population could range between 6.5 and 6.9 million, with the resident population between 4.2 and 4.4 million and the citizen population between 3.6 and 3.8 million. To address these challenges, the PWP recommended increasing the number of foreign workers to strike a balance between skilled and less skilled labour, as well as to provide healthcare and domestic services. It also argued that foreign workers support businesses in times of economic growth.

The motion was passed by a vote of 77 to 13 in the People's Action Party (PAP)–dominated Parliament, following amendments that removed the phrase "population policy" and placed greater emphasis on infrastructure and transport development. Opposition to the motion came from non–PAP parliamentarians, including all seven MPs of the Workers' Party (WP). In addition, three Non-constituency Members of Parliament (NCMPs) voted against it, two from the WP and one from the Singapore People's Party (SPP). Several Nominated Members of Parliament (NMPs) also expressed dissent, with three casting votes against the motion and one choosing to abstain.

Outside Parliament, the PWP was heavily criticised and panned by opposition parties and government critics. WP's Low Thia Khiang criticised current measures of increasing the fertility rate, claiming that this would lead to an increase of a higher cost of living and discourage young couples from having more kids. As for current immigration policies, he had noted that immigrants were a source of friction for Singaporeans and that an increased population would put more stress and strain on the urban infrastructure. On 16 February 2013, an estimated 4,000 Singaporeans gathered at the Speakers' Corner in Hong Lim Park to protest against the PWP. Participants voiced concerns that the projected population increase would strain public services and drive up the cost of living. The event was noted as the largest protest of an anti government nature to be held at the Speakers' Corner since its establishment in 2000.