Singapore's total population fell for the second consecutive year to 5.45 million as at end-Jun 2021,
Demographics of Singapore
Demographics of country
As of June 2023, the population of Singapore stands at 5.92 million. Of these 5.92 million people, 4.15 million are residents, consisting of 3.61 million citizens and 540,000 permanent residents. The remaining 1.77 million people living in Singapore are classed as non-residents, a group consisting mainly of resident workers without political rights who are routinely excluded from official demographic statistics. Singapore is a multiracial, multiethnic, and multicultural Asian society. Major religions include Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Taoism, and Hinduism. Its people are broadly organised under the CMIO system of categorisation. Although Malays are recognised as the indigenous community, 75.9% of the citizens and permanent resident visa holders are ethnic Chinese, with ethnic Malay and Indians comprising 15.0% and 7.5% respectively. Together, the three largest ethnic groups comprise 98.4% of the citizen population.
Population 5,637,000 (2023)
Birth rate 8.6 births/1,000 population (2021)
Death rate 5.8 deaths/1,000 population (2021)
Life expectancy 83.0 years (2022)
UPDATED JAN 24, 2022, 08:46 PM
SINGAPORE - Singapore's Chinese-Malay-Indian-Others (CMIO) system of ethnic classification is essentially an administrative tool for the Government to manage policies around race, which remains a key element of people's identity.
One example is the Ethnic Integration Policy (EIP), which sets quotas for public housing flats owned by each racial group in a block or precinct. It still exists because the risk of enclaves forming remains, and society here has yet to evolve into a more mature, "utopian" state where differences do not matter.
These were points made by a panel on Monday (Jan 24) at the annual Singapore Perspectives conference organised by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), held at Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre and streamed online.
Dr Kalpana Vignehsa, a research fellow at the think-tank, had asked from the floor if Singapore was ready to move past labels such as CMIO "to accept that in real life, identities are a lot more porous and fluid".
Panellist and deputy secretary at the Prime Minister's Office Strategy Group, Ms Cindy Khoo, said the Government was under no illusion of trying to categorise people into neat boxes, pointing to inter-ethnic mixing and the example of a Chinese person being adopted by a Malay family and raised as a Malay.
"But… for a sizeable proportion of people, they still align into those boxes," Ms Khoo said. "And unfortunately, to be totally realistic, race is a very important identifier when people form their sense of identity."
She added that the Government was both cautious and fearful about people drawing differences along ethnic lines and the societal problems that could arise, such as the racial riots in Singapore's history.
"We want to be able to manage this, so having (CMIO) labels allows us to administer policies… It's a piece of information that allows you to take action."
How this stance evolves comes down to the extent to which the Government needs to keep intervening and managing such issues. And the day when people no longer use race or skin colour as an identifier is the day when policies that differentiate by race would be meaningless, said Ms Khoo.
The EIP, for example, will become less and less relevant as people naturally choose to live in diverse neighbourhoods, she added.
"Today, the fact that there are still a lot of applications that potentially could be rejected - because they have met the quota - means that there is still a tendency for people to want to congregate in a way that we think doesn't promote cohesion and a shared lived experience in a neighbourhood," said Ms Khoo.
"This is one situation where the policy is responding to what society requires."
Speaking at a dialogue later, Minister for National Development Desmond Lee acknowledged that the EIP has "rough edges" but stressed its importance in enabling estates "to be microcosms reflective of the ethnic diversity of Singapore".
"This is important because if you don't live together, don't meet each other in the lift, in the corridor, in the markets and the shops; if you see fewer of Singaporeans of different ethnic communities, then I think your lived experience will inform a lot of thoughts, emotions, and may feed into prejudices. Because we caricaturise what we do not see, who we do not meet," he said.
"So physical spaces are important, and the policies that foster the diversity in those physical spaces are important."
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Singapore's CMIO race model an administrative tool to manage policies: IPS panel
The race model is essentially an administrative tool for the Government to manage policies around race, which remains a key element of people's identity.
SINGAPORE - Singapore's Chinese-Malay-Indian-Others (CMIO) system of ethnic classification is essentially an administrative tool for the Government to manage policies around race, which remains a key element of people's identity.
One example is the Ethnic Integration Policy (EIP), which sets quotas for public housing flats owned by each racial group in a block or precinct. It still exists because the risk of enclaves forming remains, and society here has yet to evolve into a more mature, "utopian" state where differences do not matter.
These were points made by a panel on Monday (Jan 24) at the annual Singapore Perspectives conference organised by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), held at Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre and streamed online.
Dr Kalpana Vignehsa, a research fellow at the think-tank, had asked from the floor if Singapore was ready to move past labels such as CMIO "to accept that in real life, identities are a lot more porous and fluid".
Panellist and deputy secretary at the Prime Minister's Office Strategy Group, Ms Cindy Khoo, said the Government was under no illusion of trying to categorise people into neat boxes, pointing to inter-ethnic mixing and the example of a Chinese person being adopted by a Malay family and raised as a Malay.
"But… for a sizeable proportion of people, they still align into those boxes," Ms Khoo said. "And unfortunately, to be totally realistic, race is a very important identifier when people form their sense of identity."
She added that the Government was both cautious and fearful about people drawing differences along ethnic lines and the societal problems that could arise, such as the racial riots in Singapore's history.
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"We want to be able to manage this, so having (CMIO) labels allows us to administer policies… It's a piece of information that allows you to take action."
How this stance evolves comes down to the extent to which the Government needs to keep intervening and managing such issues. And the day when people no longer use race or skin colour as an identifier is the day when policies that differentiate by race would be meaningless, said Ms Khoo.
The EIP, for example, will become less and less relevant as people naturally choose to live in diverse neighbourhoods, she added.
"Today, the fact that there are still a lot of applications that potentially could be rejected - because they have met the quota - means that there is still a tendency for people to want to congregate in a way that we think doesn't promote cohesion and a shared lived experience in a neighbourhood," said Ms Khoo.
"This is one situation where the policy is responding to what society requires."
Speaking at a dialogue later, Minister for National Development Desmond Lee acknowledged that the EIP has "rough edges" but stressed its importance in enabling estates "to be microcosms reflective of the ethnic diversity of Singapore".
"This is important because if you don't live together, don't meet each other in the lift, in the corridor, in the markets and the shops; if you see fewer of Singaporeans of different ethnic communities, then I think your lived experience will inform a lot of thoughts, emotions, and may feed into prejudices. Because we caricaturise what we do not see, who we do not meet," he said.
"So physical spaces are important, and the policies that foster the diversity in those physical spaces are important."
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At the earlier panel, moderator and IPS deputy director of research Gillian Koh also pointed out the contrast with the private sector, where there is "a proclivity to cluster" among certain groups.
The other panellist, Associate Professor of Sociology Ho Kong Chong from the National University of Singapore, said the way forward was perhaps not so much focused on labels such as CMIO but the idea that "citizenship needs to be experienced in order to be real".
"How do we develop a strategy that both insists on common things that we agree on moving forward with regard to identity and belonging, but at the same time be flexible enough because our society, our city is changing so fast?" he said.
"I think that is the challenge."
Debate over CMIO model as diversity grows.
August 8, 2017.
Singapore 🇸🇬 Context
Ms. Nicole Kessler, a blogger who writes about her Eurasian identity, says having the ‘Others’ label is like having one’s identity taken away.
SINGAPORE — Over the past decade, the ethnic category that has risen by the greatest proportion among all such categories in Singapore’s resident population has been the one classified as “Others”.
A subset of the country’s long-standing Chinese-Malay-Indian-Others (CMIO) framework, this group made up 3.2 percent of the resident population in June last year, nearly one percentage point higher than a decade ago.
Over the same period, the proportion of Indians edged up by half a percentage point, while the share of Malays and Chinese fell marginally.
As of last June, there were about 127,620 people classified as “Others” among a resident population of
3.93 million, based on the latest figures from the Department of Statistics.
The “Others” group is divided into Filipinos, Caucasians, Eurasians, Arabs, Thais, Japanese, and others.
Filipinos were the largest ethnic group in the “Others” category as of June 2015 — numbering nearly 34,060 — followed by Caucasians (29,290), Eurasians (16,903) and Arabs (8,642), the Department of Statistics’ 2015 General Household Survey showed.
Among these groups, the number of Caucasians saw the biggest leap of 15.7 percent between June 2010 and June 2015.
Reaching back to Singapore’s first Census in 1824, the CMIO framework continues to undergird selected national policies from housing to education, including public housing ethnic quotas.
But in recent years, the growing diversity of Singapore society has prompted calls from various quarters — including academics and former parliamentarians — for Singapore to move beyond viewing citizens through an ethnic prism. Some have urged a focus on a Singaporean identity instead of an ethnic one.
So, the CMIO framework is now 200 years old. 1824 till 2024.
National University of Singapore sociologist Tan Ern Ser told TODAY that he believed there was still a place for racial categorisation for now, since race still matters here, “particularly in regard to identity, language, culture and social policy”.
But recognising that mixed-race individuals can make classification “far more complicating”, Dr Tan said: “Perhaps, sometime in the future, when racial boundaries become highly porous, it would become unnecessary and impractical to maintain our present system of racial classification.”
Noting the expanding “Others” category, Associate Professor Elaine Ho from the NUS Department of Geography said combining diverse ethnic groups into a single category “glosses over their social heterogeneity and different needs”.
“Policymakers and Singaporeans alike need to develop new lingo to capture the different and manifold ways in which privilege and prejudice manifest (themselves) in Singapore now, so that we can debate these issues not only emotively, but also accurately and respectfully,” she said.
A PERENNIAL DEBATE
From time to time, the debate over the relevance of the CMIO framework in Singapore today would be stirred.
In 2010, then-Member of Parliament Irene Ng called for a “Singaporean” category, noting that besides Chinese, Malay, Indian and Eurasian, citizens were classified under many other races in their national registration identity cards (NRICs).
A Singaporean category would show “we share common values and lifestyles and have become more race-blind”, she told the House.
Responding, then-Second Minister for Home Affairs K Shanmugam said that while the Singaporean identity had to be made stronger than individual ethnic identities, “that ideal is not going to be achieved by us ignoring our ethnic diversity, nor would our ethnic diversity go away because we do not reflect it in our NRICs”.
In April 2015, prominent businessman Ho Kwon Ping said the CMIO framework should be jettisoned, arguing that it hampers Singapore’s ability to deal with an increasingly vocal and diverse society.
Cabinet Minister Ng Chee Meng also spoke about the topic several months later. Speaking at a panel discussion in January last year, Mr Ng said he would be very careful about moving away from principles that have served the country well.
His Cabinet colleague Ong Ye Kung has also weighed in. Singapore was “far from ready” to do away with the CMIO model and “just be Singaporean”, Mr Ong said in September last year at a post-National Day Rally dialogue with youth in his Sembawang constituency.
WHAT ‘OTHERS’ SAY
For some of those under the “Others” category whom TODAY spoke to, modifying or even doing away with the framework could go some way to reinforcing a greater sense of identity and belonging, especially as the group grows and becomes more diverse.
Eurasian Graham Ong-Webb, 42, described the category as “very confining”, and felt that Eurasians should have a category of their own. “We’ve all been very used to the CMIO model all this while, but ... it doesn’t mean that we should carry on using it if there’s going to be a model of better fit … in line with the changing times,” said Dr Ong-Webb, the Eurasian Association’s chairperson for education. Nevertheless, he reiterated, many in the Eurasian community see themselves as “Singaporeans”. He said: “All ethnic groups have a stake in Singapore.”
Fellow Eurasian Nicole Kessler, 32, likened the “Others” label to having one’s identity taken away. The legal secretary said the Eurasian community, which has been around for a long time, was “a part of Singapore” and she wants more to become aware of its culture and food. Still, Ms Kessler reiterated: “Singapore is my home … It’s more (about) being a Singaporean.”
Given the country’s cultural and racial diversity, some noted that the “Others” categorisation has not prevented them from immersing themselves in another culture.
Singaporean Jade Amira, born to Palestinian parents, identifies more with the Malay race, as she is well-acquainted with its customs. “Most of my friends and neighbours are Malays … I spend a lot of time with them, I understand a lot about their culture,” said the 22-year-old undergraduate.
Mr Michael Williams, born to a Chinese-Singaporean mother and New Zealander father, identifies more with the Chinese race. Moving to Singapore from New Zealand when he was just two, he took up Chinese as his mother tongue at kindergarten and has an excellent grasp of the language. The Singapore permanent resident had, on many occasions in secondary school, bagged the Bilingual Award and was even asked by his teacher to tutor peers who were weaker at the language.
“I identify as a Chinese, I feel like a Chinese, I don’t see why I shouldn’t be a Chinese,” he said.
For now, Singapore’s key policies still hinge on the deployment of the CMIO model. Removing it will not make Singapore “post-racial”, since racial and cultural identities remain important to most Singaporeans, said Singapore Management University law lecturer Eugene Tan. But the CMIO model must not detract Singaporeans from the common Singaporean identity and their civic loyalty as citizens, he said.
Assoc Prof Tan felt that as Singapore grows as a nation, the importance of the CMIO system in the public sphere should decline gradually. “Every Singaporean has multiple identities (such) that no classification can ever capture every nuance,” he said. “Recognising the multiple identities as an integral part of being Singaporean is vital for ethnic relations.”
87th day as Singapore’s Prime Minister on 9th August, 2024. Celebrating 59th NDP.
22nd August 2024 will be
Lawrence Wong Shyun Tsai (born 18 December 1972) 黄循财 pinyin: Huáng Xúncái , his 💯 days as Singapore’s 4th PM.
Lawrence Wong was officially sworn in at 20:00 local time on 15th May 2024, at The Istana. He became the country's fourth prime minister, at 52 years old, as well as the first PM to be born after Singapore's independence in 1965. He was 7 years old then.
At his swearing-in ceremony, during his first speech as Prime Minister, Wong stated "This is my promise to all Singaporeans: I will serve you with all my heart. I will never settle for the status quo. I will always seek better ways to make tomorrow better than today." He also stated that his mission as Prime Minister was "to continue defying the odds and to sustain this miracle called Singapore."
PM Lawrence Wong said that what has happened in the last 60 years for Singapore “has been nothing short of a miracle”.
“And my mission is to keep this miracle going for as long as I can. And to make sure our little red dot shines brightly for as long as possible.”
This is the age of miracles. Nothing is more horrifying than a miracle. 🙏
Wolfgang von Strucker: It's not a world of spies any more. Not even a world of heroes. This is the age of miracles, Doctor. There's nothing more horrifying than a miracle.
Wait until they meet the twins.
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