Demography: The People of Singapore

Population

• Number: 3,440,693 (July 1997 est.)
• Age structure:
  • 0-14 years : 21% (male 378,651; female 357,070)
  • 15-64 years: 72% (male 1,237,478; female 1,239,494)
  • 65 years and over: 7% (male 101,536; female 126,464) (July 1997 est.)
• Population Change
  • growth rate: 1.67% (1997 est.)
  • Birth rate: 14.13 births/1,000 population (1997 est.)
  • Death rate: 4.68 deaths/1,000 population (1997 est.)
  • Net migration rate: 7.27 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1997 est.)
  • Infant mortality rate: 3.9 deaths/1,000 live births (1997 est.)
  • Total fertility rate: 1.46 children born/woman (1997 est.)

    

Sex ratio

• at birth : 1.08 male(s)/female
• under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
• 15-64 years: 1 male(s)/female
• 65 years and over: 0.8 male(s)/female
• total population : 1 male(s)/female (1997 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

• total population : 78.15 years
• male: 75.14 years
• female: 81.4 years (1997 est.)

Nationality:

• noun: Singaporean(s)
• adjective: Singapore
• major ethnic groups
• religions

Languages

• Chinese (official dialect: Mandarin); Cantonese, Hokkien, Teochew
• Malay (official and national)
• Tamil (official); Malaylam, Punjabi
• English (official)

Literacy

• definition: age 15 and over can read and write
• total population : 91.1%
• male: 95.9%
• female: 86.3% (1995 est.)

Last modified: 30 January 2001;
Thanks to Selvaraj Velayutham of the University of Western University Nepean (Australia) for assistance.