Singapore had a population of 2,674,362 in July 1989 and the low birth and death rates common to developed economies with high per capita incomes. In 1987 the crude birth rate was 17 per 1,000 and the death rate was 5 per 1,000 for an annual increase of 12 per 1,000. The infant mortality rate of 9.1 per 1,000 in 1986 was quite low by international standards and contributed to a 1987 life expectancy at birth of 71.4 years for males and 76.3 years for females. As in most developed countries, the major causes of death were heart disease, cancer, and strokes. As of 1986, 74% of married women of childbearing age practiced contraception, and the total fertility rate was 1.6, which was below the replacement level but comparable to that of many countries in Western Europe.

The population of Singapore is various, the result of considerable past immigration. Chinese predominate, making up more than three-fourths of the total. Malays are the next largest ethnic group, and Indians the third. None of these three major communities is homogeneous. Among the Chinese, more than two-fifths originate from Fukien province and speak the Amoy dialect, about one-fourth are Teochew from the city of Swatow in Kwangtung province, and a smaller number are from other parts of Kwangtung. The Chinese community as a whole, therefore, speaks mutually incomprehensible dialects. Linguistic differences are less pronounced among the Malays, but the group includes Indonesians speaking Javanese, Boyanese, and other dialects. The Indian group is most various, consisting of Tamils ,Malayalis, and Sikhs; it also includes Pakistani and Sinhalese communities.