By Lai Han-Wei
Singapore's population now stands at 5.08 million as at end-June. --ST PHOTO: STEVEN LEE CT
SINGAPORE's population now stands at 5.08 million as at end-June, according to official data released by the Singapore Department of Statistics on Tuesday.
There were 3.77 million residents, of whom 3.23 million were Singapore citizens and 540,000 permanent residents.
Singapore's total population growth registered a lower growth rate of 1.8 per cent, reflecting the slower growth in the number of permanent residents and non-residents over the past year. The number of permanent residents grew by 1.5 per cent in 2010, down from at least 6 per cent growth per year between 2005 and 2009. Growth in the number of non-residents also slowed to 4.1 per cent in 2010, down from the peaks of 15 per cent in 2007 and 19 per cent in 2008.
Meanwhile, the number of Singapore citizens grew by 0.9 per cent between 2009 and 2010, comparable to the annual growth rate of 0.8 to 1.1 per cent registered between 2005 and 2009.
Singapore's resident population grew older as well, with the median age of the resident population rising from 34.0 in 2000 to 37.4 this year.
However, the data shows that the inflow of permanent residents 'slowed' the pace of ageing.
The old-age support ratio (number of persons aged 15-64 years per elderly aged 65 years and over) for the resident population is 8.2 for this year, higher than the old-age support ratio of 7.2 for the citizen population. The decline in the old-age support ratio among the resident population between 2000 and 2010 was also slower than that for the citizen population.
As for ethnic composition, Chinese formed 74 per cent of the resident population this year, while the Malays and Indians took up 13 per cent and 9.2 per cent of the population share respectively.
