ABSTRACT
Singapore was founded as a British trading colony in 1819, which joined Malaysia in 1963, but withdrew 2 years later to become an independent city-nation. It subsequently became one of the world’s most prosperous countries, with strong international trading links (its port arguably one of the world’s busiest) and per capita GDP above that of leading nations of Western Europe. Singapore is a small city-state with a population of 4,131,200 (2001 mid-year est.).
Since 1987 the slogan “have three, or more (children) if you can afford it” has been the major theme of Singapore’s new population policy. The policy, which may be described as “selectively pronatalist”, represented a fundamental change in direction from the blanket “stop at two” policy which had been in effect for about two decades until the mid-1980s. The population growth rate during the time of writing was 2.8 per cent, owing perhaps to the government’s drive to increase population. The proportion of males is slightly lower than that of females (0.96 male(s)/female). Singapore is a predominantly Chinese country, but it has a sizeable Malay
and Indian population. Ethnic groups comprise Chinese (76.7 per cent), Malay (13.9 per cent), Indian (7.9 per cent) and others (1.5 per cent).
