A Super-aged Singapore: Policy Implications for a Smart Nation

TODAY

13 October 2015

Tan Teck Boon

According to the United Nations World Population Prospects (UNWPP), Singapore will become a super-aged society in 2026. By then, one in five persons in the country, or 1,258,441, will be aged 65 or above.

The median age will exceed 44.9 (from only 18.1 in 1965) — meaning that half of the population will be at least 44.9 years old. When Singapore gained independence in 1965, only 2.65 per cent of the population, or 49,757, were aged 65 or above.

But drastic improvements in life expectancy and a sharp fall in the nation’s birth rate have led to rapid population ageing. Between 1965 and 2014, life expectancy jumped by 16.1 years, while the birth rate fell from 29.0 births per 1,000 population to only 9.1. The net result is a fast-ageing population.

… Dr Tan Teck Boon is a research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) at Nanyang Technological University. This commentary was first published in RSIS Commentaries.

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Last updated on 13/10/2015