In 2025, residents aged 65 years and above made up 18.8 percent of the total resident population in Singapore. Singapore is currently one of the most rapidly aging societies in Asia, along with Japan. The elderly in Singapore Improvements in healthcare and the standard of living over the years have contributed to an increase in life expectancy in Singapore. This was reflected in the decreasing death rate of elderly residents over the decades. The increase in the share of the elderly population was further compounded by a decreasing total fertility rate, which was well below the 2.1 needed for a balanced population. By 2050, the elderly population in Singapore was forecasted to be a third of its total population. Economic burden of an aging society Singapore thus faces significant economic challenges due to an increasingly elderly population. The number of elderly dependents to the working age population had been steadily increasing. As Singaporeans face the prospect of living longer, more and more elderly had chosen to return to work after retirement. Singapore society still places the responsibility of caring for the elderly on younger family members. However, the burden of care is expected to increase with the years, and whether this model is sustainable remains to be seen.

Singapore Old-Age Support Ratio: Resident: Per Elderly >65 Years: 20-64 Years data was reported at 4.500 Per Person in 2019. This records a decrease from the previous number of 4.800 Per Person for 2018. Singapore Old-Age Support Ratio: Resident: Per Elderly >65 Years: 20-64 Years data is updated yearly, averaging 10.600 Per Person from Jun 1957 (Median) to 2019, with 63 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 21.300 Per Person in 1957 and a record low of 4.500 Per Person in 2019. Singapore Old-Age Support Ratio: Resident: Per Elderly >65 Years: 20-64 Years data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Department of Statistics. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Singapore – Table SG.G001: Population: Statistics.

The share of people aged 65 years and older in Singapore stood at **** percent in 2023. Between 1960 and 2023, the share rose by ***** percentage points, though the increase followed an uneven trajectory rather than a consistent upward trend.

Dataset from Singapore Department of Statistics. For more information, visit https://data.gov.sg/datasets/d_45acf574880ac493ec638f72338e62d5/view

Dataset from Housing & Development Board. For more information, visit https://data.gov.sg/datasets/d_4180067b350bc9839a4cea487841d5d1/view

Elderly illiterate population, 65+ years, male (number) in Singapore was reported at 13998 Persons in 2018, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Singapore - Elderly illiterate population, 65+ years, male - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on November of 2025.

Actual value and historical data chart for Singapore Elderly Illiterate Population 65 Years Both Sexes Number

PHASE aims to understand the relationships between physical health, social support, and socioeconomic status in the Singaporean elderly population. The study recruited elderly citizens and permanent residents aged at least 60 years, living in public and private housing in Singapore. Participants aged at least 75 years and participants who self-identified as Malay or Indian were over sampled to ensure representation. At baseline, over 4,900 elderly Singaporeans were included in the cohort.

In 2024, the old-age dependency ratio in Singapore was at 26.5 residents aged 65 years and older per hundred residents aged 15 to 64 years. In the last ten years, this ratio has increased from 16.2 in 2015. Singapore is facing the challenge of an increasingly aging population and a declining birth rate, leading to a possible continuation of the trend of increasing old-age dependency ratio.

Actual value and historical data chart for Singapore Elderly Literacy Rate Population 65 Years Male Percent

Actual value and historical data chart for Singapore Elderly Illiterate Population 65 Years Percent Female

Dataset from Singapore Department of Statistics. For more information, visit https://data.gov.sg/datasets/d_530099f2c0a37ed367bb94a66c9100af/view

In 2024, residents aged 65 years and above made up **** percent of the total employed resident population in Singapore. Improvements in healthcare and the standard of living over the years have contributed to an increase in life expectancy in Singapore. As a consequence, Singapore is currently one of the most rapidly aging societies, including an aging workforce, in Asia. Aging workforce The minimum retirement age in Singapore is currently set at 63 years old, and would be increased to 64 years in 2026. Even so, **** percent of residents aged 65 years old were still employed or seeking employment. For many Singaporeans, retirement brings with it an increased economic burden. There is no system of state-funded pensions, and retirees depend largely on their savings. However, a survey on current working age Singaporeans found that few were financially prepared for retirement. Increased financial dependency on elderly breadwinners An increasingly elderly population has also led to the trend of increasing number of households who depend on elderly breadwinners, almost tripling since 2000. The number of elderly single-person households have also increased. To mitigate the economic burden on the elderly, the Singapore government has launched several upskilling programs to ensure that the elderly remain competitive in the workforce. However, beyond extending their employability, few other social safety nets are currently available to ensure a comfortable retirement for the elderly, regardless of income level.

Elderly illiterate population, 65+ years, female (number) in Singapore was reported at 73697 Persons in 2018, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Singapore - Elderly illiterate population, 65+ years, female - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on November of 2025.

As of June 2025, there were approximately 320,130 residents between the ages of 35 to 39 years old in Singapore, making it the largest age group among its resident population. This reflects the increasingly aging population of Singapore, a significant demographical shift that will have long-lasting socio-economic repercussions. Living longer… The improvements in health care and quality of life has led to Singapore having one of the highest life expectancies in the world. Coupled with one of the lowest fertility rate globally, Singapore society faces a crisis of aging. The average age of its resident population is projected to increase to just under 51 years old by 2050. …and working longer The prospect of an aging population is worrying for a country whose most important resource is its people. The current retirement age of 62 would no longer be tenable when close to half the population is expected to be aged 65 years or older by 2050. There is already a trend of elderly workers re-entering the workforce, be it to keep themselves occupied or to support themselves financially. The share of the population who would be working well into old age looks set to increase in the future, as a majority of Singaporeans have indicated that they were not financially prepared for old age.Singapore is well-known for its emphasis on career and shunning welfare policies; however, there is an urgent need to rethink and overhaul its social security and medical care systems to weather the silver tsunami that is set to engulf the island state.

This study compares projections, up to year 2040, of young-old (aged 60-79) and old-old (aged 80+) with functional disability in Singapore with and without accounting for the changing educational composition of the Singaporean elderly. Two multi-state population models, with and without accounting for educational composition respectively, were developed, parameterized with age-gender-(education)-specific transition probabilities (between active, functional disability and death states) estimated from two waves (2009 and 2011) of a nationally representative survey of community-dwelling Singaporeans aged ≥60 years (N=4,990). Probabilistic sensitivity analysis with the bootstrap method was used to obtain the 95% confidence interval of the transition probabilities. Not accounting for educational composition overestimated the young-old with functional disability by 65 percent and underestimated the old-old by 20 percent in 2040. Accounting for educational composition, the proportion of old-old with functional disability increased from 40.8 percent in 2000 to 64.4 percent by 2040; not accounting for educational composition, the proportion in 2040 was 49.4 percent. Since the health profiles, and hence care needs, of the old-old differ from those of the young-old, health care service utilization and expenditure and the demand for formal and informal caregiving will be affected, impacting health and long-term care policy.

The DaHA study is a community-based study aiming to assess the role of diet and nutrition in the overall health of the elderly population in Singapore. The study included over 1,000 participants aged 60 years and above, recruited from a single site in the Jurong region of western Singapore. Of the participants, 72% were female, and 96.3% were Chinese, with 1.8% and 0.8% Indian and Malay participants, respectively. Follow-up assessments are conducted every 4 - 5 years to monitor changes in diet, cognitive function, and physical health.

In 2024, there were approximately ****** single-person elderly households in Singapore. This figure has been increasing in the past ten years, as Singapore faces the challenge of an aging population. By 2050, it was projected that more than ** percent of the Singaporean resident population would be aged 65 years and above.

Elderly literacy rate, population 65+ years, female (%) in Singapore was reported at 78.94 % in 2018, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Singapore - Elderly literacy rate, population 65+ years, female - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on November of 2025.

Digital health has become increasingly vital for managing the needs of rapidly aging populations. This study reviews and maps research on digital health and aging in Asian countries from 2000 to 2024, identifying key opportunities, challenges, and emerging themes. Using a systematic and bibliometric approach, we screened 3,236 studies from Scopus and Web of Science and analyzed 753 eligible articles. Bibliometric techniques—including co-word, co-citation, and co-author analyses—were applied using the Bibliometrix R-package and its Biblioshiny interface to uncover the intellectual and thematic structure of the field. Our findings reveal a significant increase in research since 2018, driven by researchers based in China, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with a strong emphasis on telemedicine, mHealth, AI- and IoT-based systems, wearable devices, and smart home technologies. These digital health innovations enhance the quality of life, reduce fall risks, and improve care for frail older adults with chronic conditions in both clinical and community settings. However, significant gaps remain in Southeast and South Asia, and most studies are small-scale or pilot-based, which limits their generalizability. This review highlights the potential of digital health interventions to transform aging care in Asia and underscores the need for context-specific studies, multicounty collaborations, and supportive policy frameworks.