The citizen population has also continued to age, with 19.1 per cent aged 65 and above in June 2023, compared with 11.7 per cent a decade ago.
The report said that the proportion of elderly citizens is rising, and at a faster pace than the last decade, as large cohorts of “baby boomers” reach 65 years old.
The median age of the citizen population as of June 2023 is now 43 years old, rising from 42.8 years in June 2022. This has gone up steadily over the last 10 years from 40 years in June 2013.
Currently, 61 per cent of citizens are aged 20 to 64 years, down from 64.9 per cent in 2013. And the proportion of citizens aged 65 and above has gone up from 11.7 per cent in 2013 to 19.1 per cent this year. By 2030, around one in four citizens (24.1 per cent) will be aged 65 and above.
The number of citizens aged 80 and above has also increased by about 70 per cent from 80,000 in 2013 to 136,000 in 2023.
IMMIGRATION
The report added that the pace of immigration continues to be “measured and stable”. Last year, 23,082 people were granted citizenship and 34,493 were granted permanent resident (PR).
The numbers were slightly higher than in 2019 as a number of approved applicants in 2020 and 2021 could not complete in-person processes for the grant of citizenship or PR due to travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The backlog thus contributed to the higher numbers granted.
About 5.5 per cent of the new Singapore citizens in 2022, or 1,280 of them, were children born overseas to Singaporean parents, the report said.