By Joy Fang
SINGAPORE has crossed the five-million mark in its latest population figures - its highest number so far.
An advance release of this year's population census, conducted by the Singapore Department of Statistics, showed that Singapore's population stood at 5.08 million at the end of June this year.
The figure is an increase from the 4.03 million recorded in a previous population census, done in 2000.
It was also revealed that 3.23 million were Singapore citizens - an increase of 0.24 million from the 2.99 million in 2000.
But the bulk of the increase came from permanent residents (PRs) and non-residents which include those who work or study here.
The number of PRs increased by 0.25 million, from 0.29 million in 2000 to 0.54 million.
The number of foreigners leapt by 0.56 million, from 0.75 million to 1.31 million.
However, the report said that Singapore registered a lower population growth this year of 1.8 per cent, due to a slower growth in the number of PRs and non-residents.
The population growth rate was registered at 2.8 per cent in the 2000 census, and 3.1 per cent last year. The growth rate of PRs here increased by only 1.5 per cent this year, down from the 6 per cent growth per year between 2005 and 2009, and 9.9 per cent in 2000.
The number of Singapore citizens has grown by 0.9 per cent between last year and this year, down from 1.3 per cent in 2000.
The number of working-age residents to support older residents has also declined.
This year, there are 8.2 residents aged 15 to 64 for each resident aged 65 years and over, a drop from 9.9 in 2000.
However, the inflow of PRs reduced the pace of ageing. The same ratio for the citizen population is 7.2 working-age citizens for each elderly resident.
Of the resident population, the Chinese formed 74.1 per cent, down from 76.8 per cent 10 years ago, while the Malay and Indian populations were 13.4 per cent and 9.2 per cent, respectively. In 2000, they were 13.9 per cent and 7.9 per cent, respectively.
The report also found females outnumbered males by 49,500, shooting up from just 4,000 a decade ago.
The advance report is the first release of data from the 2010 Population Census, the largest national statistical exercise conducted once every 10 years. It is the fifth done since Singapore's independence.
The survey was carried out between March and June this year on some 200,000 households.
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