Big drop in foreign-born S’pore residents: World Bank
By Alicia Wong – January 20th, 2011
The World Bank throws up some surprising figures that run contrary to ground sentiment.
Figures from the World Bank show the number of foreign-born people living in Singapore has fallen over the last five years. (Photo: AFP)
Even as some Singaporeans lament the influx of foreigners to the Republic, data from one international organisation show that the number of foreign-born Singapore residents dropped by more than 100,000 over the last five years.
According to the World Bank’s Migration and Remittances Factbook 2011, the number of immigrants — those born outside Singapore but have been living here for more than a year — fell from 42.6 per cent of the population in 2005, to 40.7 per cent in 2010.
This means the foreigners living in the country and/or those who converted to Singapore citizenship or permanent residency has dipped.
According to the Factbook, this data was extracted from the United Nations Population Division (UNPD), a World Bank paper as well through national census, labour force surveys, population registers and other national surveys.
Sociologist Tan Ern Ser told Yahoo! Singapore the decline could be due to more stringent criteria or quotas by the immigration authority, “given ground sentiments about the influx of foreigners”.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had said previously that Singapore would slow down the intake of migrants while accentuating the privileges of citizenship.
A tighter immigration policy in 2009 saw fewer applications for Singapore permanent residency and citizenship sanctioned that year. On Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng also announced that only 29,265 permanent resident passes were granted in 2010, half the number of passes granted the year before.
Labour economist Hui Weng Tat, however, is less convinced by the figures. His calculations show there were 2.165 million immigrants, making up 42.6 per cent of the population in 2010.
The Population of Census 2010 advanced census release shows there are 1,350,000 non-residents and 859,800 residents born outside of Singapore.
“In 2005, the immigration rate based on the same computation is only about 35 per cent,” he said, noting, the increase in the immigration rate “is consistent with the public concerns about the fast rising numbers of foreigners in the country”.
At the opposite end, the Factbook also revealed that emigrant stock grew by about 70,000 in five years to hit nearly 300,000 living abroad in 2010. That means about 6.1 per cent of Singapore-born now live overseas. This includes Singaporeans who have lived abroad for more than a year.
Associate professor Tan said Singaporeans who take up citizenship or permanent residency in another country could be “far less than 6.1 per cent”.
http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2011/01/20/big-drop-in-foreigners-living-in-spore-world-bank/
By Alicia Wong – January 20th, 2011
The World Bank throws up some surprising figures that run contrary to ground sentiment.
Figures from the World Bank show the number of foreign-born people living in Singapore has fallen over the last five years. (Photo: AFP)
Even as some Singaporeans lament the influx of foreigners to the Republic, data from one international organisation show that the number of foreign-born Singapore residents dropped by more than 100,000 over the last five years.
According to the World Bank’s Migration and Remittances Factbook 2011, the number of immigrants — those born outside Singapore but have been living here for more than a year — fell from 42.6 per cent of the population in 2005, to 40.7 per cent in 2010.
This means the foreigners living in the country and/or those who converted to Singapore citizenship or permanent residency has dipped.
According to the Factbook, this data was extracted from the United Nations Population Division (UNPD), a World Bank paper as well through national census, labour force surveys, population registers and other national surveys.
Sociologist Tan Ern Ser told Yahoo! Singapore the decline could be due to more stringent criteria or quotas by the immigration authority, “given ground sentiments about the influx of foreigners”.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had said previously that Singapore would slow down the intake of migrants while accentuating the privileges of citizenship.
A tighter immigration policy in 2009 saw fewer applications for Singapore permanent residency and citizenship sanctioned that year. On Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng also announced that only 29,265 permanent resident passes were granted in 2010, half the number of passes granted the year before.
Labour economist Hui Weng Tat, however, is less convinced by the figures. His calculations show there were 2.165 million immigrants, making up 42.6 per cent of the population in 2010.
The Population of Census 2010 advanced census release shows there are 1,350,000 non-residents and 859,800 residents born outside of Singapore.
“In 2005, the immigration rate based on the same computation is only about 35 per cent,” he said, noting, the increase in the immigration rate “is consistent with the public concerns about the fast rising numbers of foreigners in the country”.
At the opposite end, the Factbook also revealed that emigrant stock grew by about 70,000 in five years to hit nearly 300,000 living abroad in 2010. That means about 6.1 per cent of Singapore-born now live overseas. This includes Singaporeans who have lived abroad for more than a year.
Associate professor Tan said Singaporeans who take up citizenship or permanent residency in another country could be “far less than 6.1 per cent”.
http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2011/01/20/big-drop-in-foreigners-living-in-spore-world-bank/
