Population in Brief 2021: Key Trends

The Population in Brief (PIB) 2021 publication provides key updates on Singapore’s population. Here’s a snapshot of the key trends:

1. Overall population

• Singapore’s total population stood at 5.45 million as of June 2021. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the total population decreased by 4.1% from June 2020 to June 2021. This was largely due to the decrease in the non-resident population.

• The citizen population decreased by 0.7%, to 3.50 million as of June 2021. The citizen population continued to age, with 17.6% aged 65 and above, compared with 16.8% in June 2020. The permanent resident population also decreased by 6.2%, to 0.49 million as of June 2021. This was mainly because more citizens and PRs remained overseas continuously for 12 months or more due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, and were therefore not counted as part of our population.

• The non-resident population decreased by 10.7%, to 1.47 million as of June 2021. This was because of a decrease in foreign employment in Singapore from June 2020 to June 2021 due to travel restrictions and uncertain economic conditions. The decrease was seen across all pass types, with the largest drop in Work Permit Holders in the Construction, Marine Shipyard, and Process sectors.

2. Citizen marriages

• In 2020, there were 19,430 citizen marriages, 12.3% fewer than the 22,165 citizen marriages in 2019. COVID-19 restrictions on large gatherings could have led couples to defer their marriages.

3. Citizen births

• There were 31,816 citizen births in 2020, a decrease from the 32,844 citizen births in 2019. Over the last five years (2016 to 2020), there were about 32,500 citizen births on average each year, slightly more than the average of 32,400 each year in the preceding five-year period (2011 to 2015). The resident total fertility rate decreased from 1.14 in 2019 to 1.10 in 2020.