For the first time in the nation’s history, Singapore’s total population passed the six million threshold.
This landmark milestone was recorded in June by the National Population and Talent Division (NPTD) in its annual Population in Brief (PIB). This news was shared to the public just yesterday (September 24, 2024).
It’s a 2% increase from a year ago, where the population then stood at 5.92 million.
During this one-year period (June 2023 to June 2024), a bulk of the boost is actually thanks to increased foreign workers and migrant domestic workers.
Based on the report, here’s a breakdown:
- Citizen population: Increased by 0.7% from 3.61 million to 3.64 million.
- Permanent Resident population: Increased by 1.2% from 538,600 to 544,900.
- Non-resident population: Increased by 5% from 1.77 million to 1.86 million.
For the non-resident population, this growth was seen across most pass types, with Work Permit Holders contributing most to the increase.
With Singapore’s birth rates continuing to decline for the fourth consecutive year, the increase in non-resident population keeps the nation’s population from shrinking over the long haul.
In addition to that, Singapore also takes in a controlled number of Permanent Residents (PRs) and new citizens each year.
New citizenships are granted to PRs who can integrate and contribute to Singapore, and are committed to making Singapore their home. They either share family ties with Singaporeans (e.g. through marriage), or have studied, worked, or lived in Singapore for some time.
According to NPTD, Singapore keeps the PR population size stable at around half a million. “The pace of immigration continues to be measured and stable,” its website states.
Will the non-resident population continue to go up?
If you didn’t know, migrant workers need to receive approval from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) in the form of an in-principle approval (IPA) before they can work here.
In between that, many steps and intermediaries are involved such as the migrant worker’s employer buying a security bond for their entry.
From CNA’s investigation in July, they found that the recruitment fees are also quite high and can range from S$5,000 to S$16,000. The local authorities are taking measures to ensure that the non-resident population doesn’t get out of control.
For example, Al Jazeera reported that starting next year, the government will increase the minimum salary requirement for foreigners who want to work in the city-state. There’s also been a hike for the Employment Pass (EP), where applicants need to earn at least S$5,600 per month.
“By regularly updating the qualifying salaries based on the set wage benchmarks, we ensure a level-playing field for locals,” Manpower Minister Tan See Leng told parliament during a budget debate.
So it doesn’t seem like the government is being willy-nilly about accepting migrant workers.
That said, the projection by Minister Indranee Rajah of Singapore potentially becoming an ageing population by early the 2030s is still concerning.
Paired with the possibility of more Singaporean deaths than births in just 10 to 15 years, the citizen population number might continue to drop. For now, bringing in migrant workers is one measure to counteract the negative effects of our growing ageing population.
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Featured Image Credit: Filbert Kuong via SRN’s SG Photobank
