Overseas Singaporean


Overseas Singaporeans refers to people that are holding Singaporean citizenship or are of Singaporean descent but living outside of Singapore. Most of the overseas Singaporeans are expatriates accompanied by their families or students studying abroad. According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs in 2019, the population of the Singaporean diaspora stands at 340,751 and according to official statistics from the Singaporean government, 217,200 of Singaporeans overseas retained their citizenship. Majority of the Singaporean diaspora are located in Malaysia, Australia, United Kingdom and United States.

Overview

Most Singaporeans abroad are expatriates accompanied by their families as professionals are sought after in various industries in regions such as China, India, the Middle East, Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia, as they are bilingual and highly skilled. Other reasons for living aboard includes students seeking to study in overseas universities or Singaporeans that settled in the home countries of their foreign spouses. Population of the Singaporean diaspora was at 156,468 in 1990, with the United Kingdom having the largest community of Singaporeans at 33,320 and the second largest in Malaysia, with a population of 31,269. In 2000, the population of the diaspora increased to 192,989, which was a 23.3% increase since 1990. In the same year, the number of Singaporeans in Malaysia increased to 44,779 individuals, surpassing the community in the United Kingdom, which had a population of 39,131. From 2000 to 2015, the number of Singaporeans moving aboard increased to 314,281 individuals. By 2019, there were 340,751 overseas Singaporeans, with 123,551 individuals holding other nationalities.
Although more Singaporeans are moving aboard, there was only an average of 1,200 Singaporeans renouncing their citizenship annually, according to official government statistics. In recent years, however, more Singaporean students living aboard have plans to return to Singapore after completing their studies as countries such as Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States introduced stricter policies on working visas and immigration. According to a 2016 survey conducted by the Institute of Policy Studies, 48.5% of Singaporeans aged between 19 and 30 stated that they could achieve the goals they have without migrating and 42.6% "preferred to improve" their socio-economic wellbeing without migrating.

Reasons for emigration

According to a 2014 survey conducted by Singapore Polytechnic, some of the top reasons why Singaporeans would want to leave the country were "the high costs of living, having more opportunities overseas for work and education and a slower pace of life". Other factors includes different lifestyles, such as having access to more recreational activities in other countries.

Notable people

This list of notable people of Singaporean origin includes people who were born or raised in Singapore and Singaporeans living aboard.