Background Singapore was founded as a British trading colony in 1819. It joined the Malaysian Federation in 1963 but separated two years later and became independent. Singapore subsequently became one of the world's most prosperous countries with strong international trading links (its port is one of the world's busiest in terms of tonnage handled) and with per capita GDP equal to that of the leading nations of Western Europe. The People | Population | 4,553,009 (July 2007 est.) | | Age structure | 0-14 years: 15.2% (male 358,064/female 333,702)
15-64 years: 76.3% (male 1,692,817/female 1,780,982)
65 years and over: 8.5% (male 171,876/female 215,568) (2007 est.) | | Life expectancy at birth | total population: 81.8 years
male: 79.21 years
female: 84.59 years (2007 est.) | Population growth rate | 1.275% (2007 est.) | | Ethnic groups | Chinese 76.8%, Malay 13.9%, Indian 7.9%, other 1.4% (2000 census) | | Religions | Buddhist 42.5%, Muslim 14.9%, Taoist 8.5%, Hindu 4%, Catholic 4.8%, other Christian 9.8%, other 0.7%, none 14.8% (2000 census) | | Population below poverty line | NA% | | People living with HIV/AIDS | 4,100 (2003 est.) | | HIV/AIDS - deaths | less than 200 (2003 est.) | | Mobile phones in use | 4.385 million (2005) | | Internet users | 1.717 million (2006) |
Data (Background & The People) provided by The World Factbook |