Singapore in Numbers - The Singapore Population Census
It is always an exciting time for us at FYT Consulting whenever there is a new data release. It gives us a chance to update our view of the world, challenge our current assumptions and of course, gives us new materials with which to update our workshops to maintain relevancy and timeliness.
The Singapore Population Census was released in Jun 2021, and it focused on some specific observations when comparing the data to decade ago. Specifically,
Singapore's population had been growing and ageing
More Singaporeans are choosing to remain single
Those who are married are having fewer babies
A larger proportion of Singaporeans have no religion
Singaporeans are better educated
Households are earning more and incidences of both spouses working and have with fewer members
The premise of the census highlights compare key population metrics against what it was 10 years ago; this is intended to provide an update on the state of the population as well as to highlight key trends, especially as Singapore slowly emerges from pandemic operation conditions. Mainstream and social media have picked up on the census highlights had expressed concerns, such as the ageing population and dropping marriage rates in Singapore.
One of the main challenge with presenting 2 data points which are 10 years apart, it suggests and implies that these changes are sudden in nature and potentially overemphasized the urgency to act or react. Highlights are great for summaries and to help us update our understanding; but it also helps us ask better questions.
With this in mind, FYT will be publishing a series of articles in the coming weeks to shed more light on each of these highlights and perhaps help our readers and followers make better sense of the numbers. Look out for upcoming posts.
