SINGAPORE: Singapore's population has increased, due to growth of both the resident and non-resident populations.
The Department of Statistics (DOS), in its Population Trends 2012 report released on Friday, said the country's total population stood at 5.31 million as at end June 2012, up 2.5 per cent from a year ago.
It said there were 3.29 million Singapore citizens and 0.53 million permanent residents, and the rest were non-residents.
The number of Singapore citizens grew by 0.9 per cent, comparable to the growths in the last couple of years, while the number of permanent residents increased marginally by 0.2 per cent.
Growth in the number of non-residents was at 7.2 per cent, slightly higher than last year's 6.9 per cent. But DOS said it was significantly lower than the double digit percentage increases of 14.9 per cent seen in 2007 and 19.0 per cent in 2008.
Reflecting the ageing population, the report said the median age of the resident population went up further to 38.4 years, compared to 38.0 in 2011 and 37.4 in 2010.
The proportion of Singapore residents aged 65 years and above rose to 9.9 per cent from 9.3 per cent last year.
This resulted in the ratio of residents aged 20-64 years to elderly residents aged 65 years and above trending downwards.
The report said there were 6.7 residents aged 20-64 years to each elderly resident, compared to 7.2 last year.
Female residents outnumbered their male counterparts in Singapore. The sex ratio was 970 males per 1,000 females, down from 972 in 2011.
The population report was the eighth edition of an annual series that puts together different aspects of demographic statistics in one volume.
It comprises five sections, namely, "Population", "Households and Housing", "Family Formation and Dissolution", "Fertility" and "Mortality".
The report can be accessed online at the Statistics Singapore website.
- CNA/xq/al
