Asian financial center Singapore, which is already more densely populated than rival Hong Kong, wants to raise its population by as much as 30 percent in the next two decades to ensure its economy remains dynamic, the government said on Tuesday.
The growth in the population to between 6.5 and 6.9 million by 2030 - from 5.3 million now - would involve persuading citizens to have more babies and handing out citizenship to more foreign-born professionals, the government said in a white paper.
The publication of the white paper comes just days after Singapore's long-ruling People's Action Party (PAP) lost heavily in a by-election amid growing public unhappiness about high property prices and competition for jobs which they blamed on the government's liberal immigration policies. Full story
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