More than 50,000 become Singapore PRs in last 2 years
About 8,500 take up Singapore Citizenship annually
May 21, 2007
AsiaOne
More foreigners have been granted permanent residency in Singapore
annually, with the number reaching over 50,000 in the last two
years.
Deputy Prime Minister Minister Wong Kan Seng told Parliament today
that over the last 10 years, from 1997 to 2006, an average of about
36,000 persons were granted Permanent Residence (PR) in Singapore
annually.
Most of them - about 48 per cent - came from South-East, South and
East Asia and some were from diverse places such as the Americas,
Oceania and Europe.
Responding to a question from Nominated MP Siew Kum Hong, Mr Wong
said that the total PR granted has generally been on an upward
trend.
"Since 2001, the number of PR granted was consistently more than
30,000. For the years 2005 and 2006, the number of PR granted was
above 50,000," said Mr Wong, who is also the Home Affairs
Minister.
And in the last 10 years, an average of 8,500 Singapore PRs became
Singapore citizens annually, he added.
In an interview with The Straits Times in March to underscore
Singapores need for immigration for its economy to thrive, Mr Wong
said that Singapore needs an additional 87,300 people in the
workforce for its economy to grow at 6 per cent this year.
But the workforce is projected to grow by only 52,700 a year, when
citizens and permanent residents (PRs) alone are taken into
account. This means that Singapore is still short of 34,600
people.
From 2001 to 2005, Singapore attracted about 8,000 new citizens per
year. Last year, the number hit 13,200. Looking forward, a good
number will be to get 10,000 to 12,000 new citizens a year, said
Mr Wong, who chairs the National Population Committee.
Singapore is preparing to host 6.5 million people comfortably, up
from the 5.5 million estimate given six years ago. With low birth
rates, foreigners are expected to be the main source of
growth.
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