Singapore population grew 2.5%

Proportion of residents aged 65 and over now close to 10%.

According to Government's annual Population in Brief released today, Singapore’s total population was 5.31 million as at end-June 2012.

There were 3.82 million Singapore residents, comprising 3.29 million Singapore citizens  and 0.53 million permanent residents, and 1.49 million non-residents.

The 2.5 per cent annual growth in total population in 2012 came from both the  resident and non-resident populations. In 2012, the number of Singapore citizens grew by  0.9 per cent, comparable to the growths in the last couple of years.

The number of  permanent residents increased marginally by 0.2 per cent in 2012, as opposed to a  contraction of 1.7 per cent a year ago. Growth in the number of non-residents was 7.2 per  cent in 2012, slightly higher than the 6.9 per cent in 2011 but significantly lower than the  peaks of 15 per cent in 2007 and 19 per cent in 2008.  

Reflecting the ageing population, the median age of the resident population went up further to 38.4 years in 2012 from 38.0 years in 2011.

The proportion of Singapore residents aged 65 years and over rose from 9.3 per cent in 2011 to 9.9 per cent in 2012.