Rising India and Indian Communities in East Asia

30. Democraphics, Incomes and Developmental Issues amongst Indians in Singapore

568 30 DEMOGRAPHICS, INCOMES AND DEVELOPMENTAL ISSUES AMONGST INDIANS IN SINGAPORE G. Shantakumar and Pundarik Mukhopadhaya DEMOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY Southeast฀Asia฀has฀witnessed฀migrations฀from฀the฀Indian฀sub-continent฀and฀ China,฀and฀is฀culturally฀influenced฀by฀Hindu,฀Buddhist,฀Taoist,฀and฀Islamic฀ doctrines,฀ideologies,฀art,฀religion฀and฀philosophy฀of฀both฀regions.฀Malaysia฀ and฀Singapore฀contain฀pockets฀(minorities)฀of฀Indian฀diaspora฀whose฀diverse฀ races฀would฀be฀directly฀classified฀as฀Indians฀(Sandhu฀and฀Mani฀1993).฀ Singapore฀has฀a฀significant฀Indian฀minority฀(8.7฀per฀cent฀of฀resident฀ population,฀2005);฀Chinese฀(75.6฀per฀cent),฀Malays฀(13.6฀per฀cent),฀and฀other฀ minorities฀make฀up฀the฀rest.฀The฀population฀composition฀is฀a฀demographic฀ “laboratory”฀(Table฀30.1).฀Ethnicity฀and฀language฀groups฀are฀enumerated฀in฀ the฀national฀censuses฀and฀surveys฀in฀Singapore.฀Indians฀continue฀to฀practise฀ their฀unique฀culture฀within฀a฀constitutional฀framework฀(Tamil฀is฀among฀the฀ four฀recognized฀official฀languages). The฀Indian฀resident฀population฀(citizens฀and฀permanent฀residents)฀ constitutes฀309,300฀persons,฀according฀to฀the฀General฀Household฀Survey฀ 2005,฀a฀mid-term฀census.฀The฀1871฀Population฀Census฀had฀enumerated฀some฀ 30฀Rising฀India.indd฀฀฀568 8/20/08฀฀฀3:51:20฀PM Demographics, Incomes and Developmental Issues in Singapore 569 Table 30.1 Key Indicators of Singapore’s Main Ethnic Populations, 1980–2005 Population฀Category Indians Malays 1980 1990 2000 2005 1980 1990 2000 2005 Total฀Population฀ (’000) 154.6 229.5 na na 351.5 408.0 na na ฀ Singapore฀Residents 143.4 190.9 257.8 309.3 328.7 382.7 453.6 484.6 ฀ Non-Residents 11.2 38.6 na na 22.8 25.3 na na ฀ %฀Non-Residents 7.2 16.8 na na 6.5 6.2 na na Ethnic฀Composition฀(%) ฀ Total฀Population 6.4 7.6 na na 14.6 13.5 na na ฀ Residents 6.3 7.1 7.9 8.7 14.4 14.1 13.9 13.6 ฀ Non-resident 8.5 12.4 na na 17.3 8.1 na na Median฀Age฀(Years)* 24.8 29.5 33.0 33.6 21.6 26.2 29.0 30.6 Persons*฀aged฀60+฀(%) 6.2 9.7 8.7 10.5 4.8 7.2 8.2 8.4 Total฀Dependency฀ Ratio*฀(%) 46 50 31 51 56 56 39 53 ฀ Under฀15฀(YDR)฀ 37 35 21 35 49 45 27 40 ฀ 60+฀(ODR) 9 15 10 16 7 11 11 13 ฀ Proportion฀Single1 ฀(%) 4.1 11.0 9.0 9.4 4.0 9.0 8.5 11.1 Mean฀No.฀of฀Children2 3.4 2.7 2.4 2.2 3.9 3.2 3.1 3.0 Population฀Category Chinese All฀Races 1980 1990 2000 2005 1980 1990 2000 2005 Total฀Population฀ (‘000) 1,856.2 2252.7 na na 2,413.9 3,016.4 4,017.7 4,351.4 ฀ Singapore฀Residents 1,787.8 2,102.8 2,505.4 2,684.9 2,282.1 2,705.1 3,263.2 3,553.5 ฀ Non-Residents 68.4 149.9 na na 131.6 311.3 754.5 797.9 ฀ %฀Non-Residents 3.7 6.7 na na 5.5 10.3 18.8 18.3 Ethnic฀Composition฀(%) ฀ Total฀Population 76.9 74.7 na na 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 ฀ Residents 78.3 77.7 76.8 75.6 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 ฀ Non-residents 51.9 48.2 na na 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Median฀Age฀(Years)* 24.9 30.6 24.9 37.2 24.4 29.8 34.2 36.0 Persons*฀aged฀60+฀(%) 8.0 9.4 8.0 12.6 7.5 9.1 10.7 11.8 Total฀Dependency฀ Ratio*฀(%) 54 46 54 44 54 48 48 46 ฀ Under฀15฀(YDR)฀ 42 32 42 26 43 34 32 29 ฀ 60+฀(ODR) 12 14 12 18 11 14 16 17 ฀ Proportion฀Single1 ฀(%) 8.1 14.1 8.1 17.8 8.1 13.3 15.8 16.0 Mean฀No.฀of฀Children 3.4 2.8 2.4 2.3 3.4 2.9 2.5 2.4 Notes:฀na฀=฀not฀available/unpublished. (*)฀for฀resident฀population.฀ 1฀ Among฀females฀in฀ages฀35–44. Sources:฀Culled฀from฀1980,฀1990฀and฀2000฀census฀and฀2005฀GHS. 30฀Rising฀India.indd฀฀฀569 8/20/08฀฀฀3:51:21฀PM 570 G. Shantakumar and Pundarik Mukhopadhaya 11,500...