Singapore is sometimes compared with London and New York. But does it have as many foreigners?
Channel NewsAsia reports: Singapore's population currently stands at nearly five million, including one million foreigners.
So foreigners make up 20 per cent of the population, going by that report.
That's less than the foreign-born population in London and New York.
Here are the figures from the Mayor of London's report on Londoners by country of birth.
Annual Population Survey estimate for Greater London in 2006
All residents: 7,352,000
UK-born: 5,031,000
Born outside UK: 2,320,000.
So 31.5 per cent of the Greater London population in 2006 was foreign-born.
According to Wikipedia, New York is the most populous city in the United States, with an estimated 2008 population of 8,363,710 — of whom 36.7 per cent are foreign-born and another 3.9 per cent born in Puerto Rico.
It's true Singapore's foreign-born population is much more than 20 per cent if you include the permanent residents and first-generation Singaporeans.
Singapore has more than half a million permanent residents.
But when does a foreign-born Singapore citizen become a true-blue Singaporean?
Even some of Singapore's leaders are first-generation Singaporeans.
Currently, Singapore's population is 4,987,600, according to the 2009 mid-year estimates given by the Singapore Department of Statistics.
There are 3,200,700 Singapore citizens and 533,200 permanent residents.
That means Singapore has more than 1.2 million foreigners. The mid-year estimates do not give the total number of foreigners but they show that, in a total population of 4,987,600, there are 3,733,900 Singapore residents (citizens and permanent residents). So the rest must be foreigners.
If you add up the foreigners and permanent residents, Singapore has more than 1.7 million foreign-born people, making up 35 per cent of the population. But that still leaves out the first-generation Singaporeans.
However, Singapore is much more homogeneous ethnically than London or New York.
The Chinese made up 74.7 per cent of the population in 2008, the Malays 13.6 per cent, the Indians 8.9 per cent and others 2.8 per cent, according to the Singapore Department of Statistics report, Singapore In Figures 2009.
Both London and New York are more diverse ethnically.
In Greater London, whites made up nearly 67.5 per cent of the population in 2006, according to the Greater London Assembly Constituency Profiles report.
| Greater London in 2006 | |
| Total population | 7,461,400 |
| Whites | 5,036,200 |
| Black Caribbean | 362,000 |
| Black African | 449,900 |
| Black other | 192,900 |
| Indian | 491,100 |
| Pakistani | 170,100 |
| Bangladeshi | 178,500 |
| Other Asian | 229,500 |
| Chinese | 98,100 |
| Other | 253,100 |
New York City has even greater ethnic diversity. No ethnic group has a clear majority unlike in London and Singapore.
According to Wikipedia,
As of the 2005–2007 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, White Americans made up 44.1% of New York City's population; of which 35.1% were non-Hispanic whites. Blacks or African Americans made up 25.2% of New York City's population; of which 23.7% were non-Hispanic blacks. American Indians made up 0.4% of the city's population; of which 0.2% were non-Hispanic. Asian Americans made up 11.6% of the city's population; of which 11.5% were non-Hispanic. Pacific Islander Americans made up less than 0.1% of the city's population. Individuals from some other race made up 16.8% of the city's population; of which 1.0% were non-Hispanic. Individuals from two or more races made up 1.9% of the city's population; of which 1.0% were non-Hispanic. In addition, Hispanics and Latinos made up 27.4% of New York City's population.
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