IPS’ “The Population Conundrum” Roundtable: What population size is considered ideal?

At a roundtable on Singapore’s demographic challenges titled, “The Population Conundrum” organised by the Institute of Policy Studies yesterday, Professor Hoon Hian Teck, Associate Dean of SMU School of Economics, was of the view that a population size of about 5.5 million would be ideal for Singapore. The makeup should comprise 4 million citizens, 1 million foreign workers / employees and 500,000 permanent residents (PRs). If the birth rate is maintained at 1.2 then Singapore should aim to bring in 20,000-25,000 new citizens every year and maintain a labour force of 2 million to ensure that there are 2 million taxpayers. On the other hand, even if Singapore’s population dwindles to the level of the 1970s, the standard of living is unlikely to decline significantly as technological advancements and popularisation of education have altered the demographic profile of the country.