1. Age Friendly Workforce Asia 2011 Conference
3 November 2011
Dr Philbert Chin
President

2. WHAT SINGAPORE WILL LOOK LIKE IN 2050
SCENARIO 1
Total Fertility rate: 1.24 births per woman
Net migration added annually: Zero
 Total Population: 3.03 million
 Total Young people aged 15 and below: 274,400 (9.1% of population)
 No. of working adults will decline to 1.73 million, making up just over
half – 57.3% – of the population
 No. of Elderly aged 65 and older: 1.02 million (33.6% of the population)
 Ratio of working age adult supporting each elderly person = 1.7: 1
 Median Age: 54.6 years old

3. WHAT SINGAPORE WILL LOOK LIKE IN 2050
SCENARIO 2
Total Fertility rate: 1.24 births per woman
Net migration added annually: 30,000
 Total population will grow to 4.89 million by 2050
 Total Young people aged 15 and below: 651,300 (13.3% of population)
 No. of Working-age adults: 3.1 million (63.3% of population)
 Elderly aged 65 and older: 1.14 million (23.4% of population)
 Ratio of working age adult supporting each elderly person = 2.7: 1
 Median age: 45.7 years old
The assumptions here reflect most closely Singapore’s
current situation

4. WHAT SINGAPORE WILL LOOK LIKE IN 2050
SCENARIO 3
Total Fertility rate: 1.24 births per woman
Net migration added annually: 60,000
 Total population will almost double to 6.76 million by 2050
 Young people aged below 15 will increase to 1.04 million by 2050
(15.3% of population)
 No. of working adults: 4.45 million (65.9% of population)
 Elderly aged 65 and older: 1.27 million (18.8% of the population)
 Ratio of working age adult supporting each elderly person = 3.5: 1
 Median age: 41.6 years old

5. WHAT SINGAPORE WILL LOOK LIKE IN 2050
SCENARIO 4
Total Fertility rate rises gradually to 1.85 births per woman by 2025 before
stabilising at this level
Net migration added annually: Zero
TFR of 1.85 is optimistic
Total Population declines to 3.37 million in 2050
No. of Young people aged 15 and below will decline to 447,100
(13.3% of population)
No. of working-age adults: 1.91 million (56.6% of population)
Elderly aged 65 and older: 1.02 million (30.2% of the population)
Ratio of working age adult supporting each elderly person = 1.9: 1
Median age: 50.9 years old

6. FROM MR LEE KUAN YEW
“20,000 to 25,000 migrants is digestible
politically”
Former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew
said at a recent forum

7. •Total Population: 4.8 million
•Working age population: 3.1 million
•Elderly aged 65 and older: 1.14 million
•Ratio of working-age adults supporting each
elderly person: 2.7: 1

8. SINGAPORE’S CURRENT DEFINITION ON THE
DISABLED
“The Singapore’s current definition uses
the medical criteria as the base and builds
on top of that, an examination of the
socio-functional limitations.”

9. COMMITTEE ON AGEING ISSUES: REPORT ON AGEING
POPULATION
Ambulant Status of Seniors
Are you able to move around physically 65 years old 65 to 74 75 years old
without any help? and above (%) Years old (%) & above (%)
Ambulant and Physically Independent 87 93 78
Ambulant and Physically independent 8 5 13
but require walking aid
Require some physical assistance to 3 1 6
move around and need some assistive
device
Not bedridden but require total 0.7 0.4 1
physical assistance for movement
Bedridden 1 0.5 2
Source: NCSS 2005

10. ESTIMATED AMBULATORY STATUS OF SENIORS IN 2050
SHOWN IN FIGURES
Projected number of elderly aged 65 and older 1,140,000
in 2050
Ambulant and Physically Independent 991,800 (87%)
1,083,000
Ambulant and Physically independent but 91, 200 (8%)
require walking aid
Require some physical assistance to move 34,200 (3%)
around and need some assistive device
Not bedridden but require total physical 7,980 (0.7%) 53,580
assistance for movement
Bedridden 11,400 (1%)

11. HEALTH PROMOTION BOARD SINGAPORE
ARTICLE ON VOLUNTEERISM
Giving to the community the benefit derives by the recipient are:
1)Sense of Achievement
a) A sense of achievement, satisfaction and fulfilment
2)Way from the Rat Race
a) By extending a helping hand, you will realise that your problems
are not as big as you think they are
3)Meet new people
a) Get a chance to meet new people and broaden your social network
b) Learn to work with people from different backgrounds
c) Get to know people from various professions
4)Pick up a new skill
a) This will allow you to learn more and help in your personal
development

12. PROMOTING VOLUNTEERISM
Mr Goh Chok Tong highlighted two ways to promote
volunteering:
 By providing volunteer opportunities that are flexible and
bite-sized
 Organisations to invest more in volunteer management

13. CHANGING MINDSETS
“ It will take a long time, not just months
but years, to change mindsets about what ageing
means and to realise the opportunities to help our
seniors be confident participants in society for as
long as they are able.”
Mr Lim Boon Heng,
then Minister in charge of ageing issues

14. LEADERSHIP FROM THE GOVERNMENT
 The government must create an environment where positive
social capital will flourish
 The government must also provide the leadership and
resources in engaging and nurturing the proper allocation
of available and willing human capital.

15. ACHIEVEMENTS OF RSVP
Programmes & Committees Number of Active Number of Number of Volunteer
Senior Volunteers Clients served Hours clocked
Active Ageing Seniors 241 6,973 996
Cyberguide & MUP 80 7,282 6305
Changi Senior Ambassador 151 213,740 24,216
Hosting 9 18 180
Learning Journey/ Senior Guiding 103 16,300 6,297
Mentoring 40 182 2465
Mentally Disadvantaged Outreach 50 200 3393
Administrative Support 107 8,000 12,791
Committee Members of all 110 4,415
Committees
ProGuide 17 2,268
Total 908 252,695 63,326
Note:
Some volunteers volunteered in more than 1 programme / committee.
Total number of members: 1,022
Number of unique active volunteers: 456 / 44.6%
Each volunteer volunteered an average of 139 hours annually (National average: 48 hours annually)

16. VOICES FROM THE VOLUNTEERS OF RSVP