Selangor Journal
People cross a street at the shopping district of Orchard Road as the city state reopens the economy, amid the Covid-19 outbreak, in Singapore, on June 19, 2020. — Picture by REUTERS

Singapore’s population grew by about 1.1 pct over the last decade

SINGAPORE, June 16 — Singapore’s total population grew by around 1.1 per cent a year between 2010 and 2020, according to the Singapore Department of Statistics (DOS) today.

The citizen population increased to 3.52 million from 3.23 million over this period, while the permanent resident population remained stable at around 0.5 million.

Ethnic composition of the resident population meanwhile remained stable, with 74.3 per cent Chinese, 13.5 per cent Malays and 9.0 per cent Indians in 2020. The resident population comprises citizens and permanent residents.

These were among the findings by the Department in its first statistical release from The Census of Population 2020, released here.

On marital status, DOS said the proportion of singles rose across age groups with the increase being the most prominent for residents aged 25-34 years.

Between 2010 and 2020, the proportion of singles among residents aged 25-29 years rose to 81.6 per cent from 74.6 per cent for males, and to 69.0 per cent from 54.0 per cent for females.

As for the number of children born, DOS said females generally had fewer children compared to the previous decade.

The average number of children born to resident ever-married females aged 40-49 years decreased from 2.02 per female in 2010 to 1.76 per female in 2020.

Among resident ever-married females aged 40-49 years, university graduates had an average of 1.66 children in 2020, lower than the average of 1.94 children among those with secondary qualification.

On educational attainment, DOS said the profile of the resident population improved between 2010 and 2020 with females having made more significant progress in education.

Among residents aged 25 years and over in 2020, 58.3 per cent attained post-secondary or higher qualifications, up from 46.5 per cent in 2010.

The Chinese, Malay and Indian communities all saw improvements in their educational attainment.

On literacy, the Department said the rate remained high at 97.1 per cent in 2020 and multi-language literacy also remained high at 90.3 per cent among literate residents aged 15-24 years.

English was the language most frequently spoken at home for 48.3 per cent of residents aged 5 years and over in 2020, up from 32.3 per cent in 2010.

Among the residents who spoke English most frequently at home, over 80 per cent also spoke a vernacular language at home.

DOS noted that Singapore continued to be religiously diverse. Among residents aged 15 years and over in 2020, 31.1 per cent identified themselves as Buddhists, 8.8 per cent as Taoists, 18.9 per cent as Christians, 15.6 per cent as Muslims and 5.0 per cent as Hindus.

Those with no religious affiliation made up 20.0 per cent in 2020, up from 17.0 per cent in 2010, it said.

— Bernama

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