PM Lee said in his
2010 New Year Message that the government "will manage and moderate the inflow of foreign workers, so that Singaporeans are not overwhelmed by the sheer numbers".
Even as our birth rate continues to fall, our population has instead increased from 3 million in 1990 to 4 million in 2000 and to almost 5 million in 2010. Source:
SingStat.
This is because of more foreigners coming to our shores. While the citizen population grows at a slow 1.1% (probably due to new citizens), the total population is growing at 3.3%, implying that foreigners are forming the bulk of the increase. Alarmingly (to me), the PR population is growing at a 11.5% rate. Data source:
SingStat.
Earlier this year, we estimated that
44 percent of our workforce are foreigners (including PRs).
Though not reported widely in the mainstream media, many citizens are complaining about the negative impact of having too many foreigners in our midst. See
this comment for an example. For more opinions, just browse through
The Online Citizen and
Temasek Review.
Do you think there are too many foreigners in Singapore? Please vote in the poll above.