Background

Population White PaperOn 29 January 2013, the Singapore government released the Population White Paper, “A Sustainable Population for a Dynamic Singapore.”

The paper outlines the government’s plans in increasing the Singapore population to between 6.5 and 6.9 million by 2030, depending on fertility trends, life expectancy, and the country’s social and economic needs. Due to Singapore’s falling birth rate (refer to Figure 1) and increasing life expectancy[1], Singapore is now in danger of facing an ageing and shrinking citizen population and workforce by 2030. The number of citizens aged 65 and above will triple to 900,000 people by 2030 and will be supported by a declining base of working-age citizens. There is a need for the Singapore government to address this demographic challenge as an ageing and shrinking population will eventually result in further political, economic and social problems for Singapore.

Total Fertility Rate

Source: Population White Paper

To tackle the demographic challenge, the government has released the Population White Paper which outlines the possible population trajectories and the key considerations, plans and/or policies that could be adopted to meet the present and future needs of Singapore and Singaporeans. The government’s plan in overcoming the shrinking and ageing population was to take in between 15,000 and 25,000 new citizens each year, who are in the younger age groups in order to make up for the smaller cohorts of younger Singaporeans. The idea of taking in more immigrants to sustain Singapore’s population was met with great outcry from Singaporeans.

SingaporeForSingaporeansPhoto Credit: Yahoo!


[1] Singapore’s life expectancy has increased from 66 years in 1970 to 82 years in 2010, making it one of the highest in the world.