Singapore’s population increased in 2010 at its slowest pace in six years and the rise in the number of foreigners continued to outpace that of citizens, a sensitive issue in the country.

In the year to June 2010, the population increased 1.8% to just over 5 million, marking the smallest rise since 2004 and a slowdown compared with 3.1% in the year to June 2009, government figures showed.

 

Out of the total population, 3.77 million were Singaporeans and permanent residents — those with long-term residency and rights similar to those of citizens. About 1.31 million were foreigners.

 

However, the foreign population living and working in Singapore grew much faster than the general population at 4.1%.

 

The number of citizens increased just 0.9% and the number of permanent residents rose by 1.5%, a sharp drop from 11.5% in 2009 and reflecting a slowdown in the number of government approvals.

 

The issue of cheaper foreign workers entering the work force is a sensitive topic in Singapore. The government is keen to strike a balance between the need to import workers and avoid depriving its citizens of employment opportunities.

 

“While the foreign workers do compete against our workers, they also expand the pie for all of us,” Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a speech on Sunday.

 

“With foreign workers, we can attract more investments here, and these projects will offer better jobs to Singaporeans.”

 

The census also showed the ethnic composition of the resident population has changed in 2010 from a decade ago.

 

The proportion of people of Chinese and Malay descent has fallen while the proportion of those people of Indian descent has increased, the government said.

 

The Chinese-descent proportion fell to 74.1% from 76.8%, the Malay-descent ratio fell to 13.4% from 13.9% while the Indian-descent number rose to 9.2% from 7.9%. Others rose to 3.3% from 1.4%.