Reasons for Decline in PR Numbers

The rise is proportionally steeper for non-residents-foreigners who are working, studying or living here but not granted PR status. Their numbers have risen nearly 7 percent to 1.39 million. Previously, it was 1.31 million. These figures were released by the Department of Statistics yesterday. At the same time, the National Population and Talent Division (NPTD) issued a report, in which it attributed the fall in PR numbers to official policy.

"Due to the tightened immigration framework, the growth in our PR population has slowed significantly since 2010," said the report.

PR growth peaked in 2009, when the number rose 11.5 percent to 533,200, from 478,200. Last year, the growth rate slowed significantly to just 1.5 percent. This year, the number of PRs shrank 1.7 percent. In March last year, then Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng said in Parliament that Singapore would move to raise the quality of immigrants. The NPTD publication suggests that new PRs and new citizens are more educated than their existing counterparts, although the base for comparison differ of new PRs aged 20 and older, 78.2 percent have post-secondary education. This compares with 74 percent of existing PRs who, however, are aged 15 and older.

Of new citizens aged 20 and older, 69.7 percent have post-secondary education. Only 44.1 percent of citizens aged 15 and older are similarly qualified. MP for Moulmein-Kallang GRC Edwin Tong said the fall in PR numbers is not a surprise, given the tightened policy.

"The fall reflects greater reluctance to grant PR status, as compared with the case in previous years," said Mr Tong.

He expects the PR population to dip further before levelling off in the next few years. Dr Leong Chan Hoong, a research fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies, agrees but adds that the reasons for the falls in PR numbers are not clear-cut.

"The fall could reflect a number of things," he said.

More of them are taking up citizenship in recent years. At the same time, the number of newly minted PRs has been falling.