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Population Trends in Singapore, 1819–1967

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Saw Swee-Hock
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Extract

The records of Singapore abound in population censuses which have been quoted by demographers, historians and other writers. These censuses can be broadly divided into those taken before 1871 and those conducted since that year. In the first period census counts were undertaken rather haphazardly, mainly by the police at fairly regular and short intervals, viz. annually from 1824 to 1830 and from 1832 to 1834, and then in 1836, 1840, 1849 and 1860. The original publications pertaining to these census counts are no longer available and the figures can only be obtained from secondary sources. In the second period proper and systematic censuses, as understood in the modern sense, were conducted by trained enumerators at regular but longer intervals and the results published in their original form are still available. The first census of this kind was held on 2 April 1871, and thereafter censuses were conducted every ten years up to 1931. Owing to the Second World War the 1941 census was postponed until 1947, followed by one held in 1957. By and large, it can be said that the census records gradually improved in comprehensiveness and accuracy.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Southeast Asian History , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , January 1969 , pp. 36 - 49
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore 1969

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References

1. See Chapter 89 of the Revised Edition of the Laws of the Straits Settlements, Singapore: Government Printer.

2. Straits Settlements, Annual Report on the Registration of Births and Deaths for the Year 1886, Singapore: Government Printer, 1887.Google Scholar

3. For a fuller account of the subject, see my forthcoming book on The Population of Singapore to be published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in 1969.

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