Household Living Arrangement in Singapore

Household Living Arrangement in
Singapore, 1990 - 2010

By
Koh Wee Ling and Lee Zhi Ying
Income, Expenditure and Population Statistics Division
Singapore Department of Statistics
Introduction
On the other hand, the parental home may
With the ageing of the population, delay

in life events such as marriage and childbearing, as well as the reduction in family
sizes, the characteristics and composition
of households1 in Singapore have changed
over the years.
different stages of the life cycle, households

may transit from one living arrangement
to another.
older parents.
This article highlights the changing profile
of resident households in Singapore in
between 1990 and 2010 based on data
from the Singapore Censuses of Population
(for 1990, 2000 and 2010) and General
Household Surveys (for 1995 and 2005)
conducted by the Singapore Department
For example, a new household is formed

when a couple marries and moves away
from their parental homes to live together
in a new home. This would often be
by
of children, and the passing away of the
terms of household living arrangement
As household members go through the
followed
be characterised by a declining number
the
parenthood phase.
couple
entering
the
of Statistics.
For
statistical
purposes,
households
are broadly classified into the following

household living arrangement categories
shown in Table 1.
A household refers to a group of two or more persons living together in the same house
common food or other arrangements for essential living. It also includes a person living alone
living with others but having his own food arrangements. Although persons may be living in the
they may not be members of the same household. A resident household refers to a household headed
(i.e. Singapore citizen or permanent resident).
Copyright Singapore Department of Statistics. All rights reserved.
and sharing
or a person
same house,
by a resident
Statistics Singapore Newsletter
March 2014
TABLE 1: HOUSEHOLD LIVING ARRANGEMENT CATEGORIES
Category
Definition
Couple-based
Refers to households with a married head and spouse. This

category is further split into those living with children and without children.
Lone Parent
Refers to households whose head is never-married/widowed/divorced/

separated and living with children aged below 16 years or nevermarried children.
Living Alone
Refers to one-person households. This includes ever-married persons who

are living alone as their children have grown up and moved out from the
parental home.
Other Households
with Family Nucleus2
Refers to other types of households with a family nucleus, for

example, a divorced household head living with elderly parents only, or
a widowed household head living with the son and daughter-in-law.
Other Households
without Family
Nucleus
Refers to other types of households without a family nucleus, for

example, a never-married household head living with never-married
siblings, or a household head living with unrelated persons only.
Age Profile of Resident Household Heads
structure as well as marriage and family

formation preferences of the population.
The effect of the ageing population can

be observed from the shift in the age
While
structure of resident household heads.
children remained the most common living
couple-based
arrangement,
the
households
proportion
of
with
such
Households headed by younger persons aged
households declined from 66 per cent in
below 35 years declined from 23 per cent in
1990 to 56 per cent in 2010 (Chart 2).
1990 to 11 per cent in 2010 (Chart 1).

In contrast, there were increases in the
In
contrast,
the
share
of
older
heads
proportions
of
couple-based
households
aged 50 years and over increased from
without children (from 8.4 per cent in 1990
35 per cent in 1990 to 50 per cent
to 14 per cent in 2010) and those living
in 2010.
alone (from 5.2 per cent in 1990 to 12 per

cent in 2010).
Household Living Arrangement

The
Household
living
arrangements
have
evolved in tandem with changes in the age
share
of
lone
parent
households
remained relatively stable at about 7 to 9 per

cent over the same period.
For statistical purposes, a family nucleus in a household can be formed by:

(a) a married couple without children;
(b) a married couple with never-married child(ren); or
(c) one parent with never-married child(ren).
A household can have one family nucleus, multiple family nuclei or none. Each nucleus comprises one or
more generations.
CHART 1
March 2014
RESIDENT HOUSEHOLDS BY AGE GROUP OF HOUSEHOLD HEADS, 1990-2010
Per Cent
10.6
11.7
11.4
24.4
24.6
26.3
42.3
22.7
1990
47.7
47.0
12.1
30.4
44.0
14.0
65 Years & Over
36.0
50-64 Years
38.6
35-49 Years
16.0
15.3
13.5
11.4
1995
2000
2005
2010
Below 35 Years
Note: The figures may not add up to 100 per cent due to rounding.
CHART 2
RESIDENT HOUSEHOLDS BY HOUSEHOLD LIVING ARRANGEMENT, 1990-2010
Per Cent
3.5
3.4
4.2
4.5
4.9
7.8
7.2
5.0
6.1
6.4
5.9
8.2
10.1
12.2
Living Alone
7.3
Lone Parent
5.2
8.6
8.0
8.4
8.9
66.5
67.5
1990
1995
7.2
12.0
6.8
13.3
13.7
62.2
59.0
56.0
2000
2005
2010
Other Households without Family Nucleus

Other Households with Family Nucleus
Couple-Based without Children
Couple-Based with Children
March 2014
Households Headed by Persons Aged
Correspondingly,
Below 35 Years
based
the
households
shares
without
of
couple-
children
and
those living alone increased, with each

Among
households
headed
by
persons
constituting around 10 per cent in 2010,
aged below 35 years, the proportion of
up
couple-based households decreased from
decades earlier.
from
about
or
per
cent
two
76 per cent in 1990 to 63 per cent in

2010 (Chart 3).

50-64 Years
Conversely,
the
proportion
of
those
living alone more than doubled from 7.2
Similarly,
per cent in 1990 to 19 per cent in 2010.
persons aged 50-64 years, the proportion
This reflects the delay in marriage and
of couple-based households with children
family
decreased, albeit by fewer percentage points,
formation
among
the
younger
population.
among
households
headed
by
from 67 per cent in 1990 to 62 per cent in

2010 (Chart 5).

35-49 Years
In comparison, the shares of couple-based

households without children and those living
Among
households
headed
by
persons
alone grew over the same period.
aged 35-49 years, the proportion of couplebased households with children decreased
In contrast, the proportion of lone parent
from 77 per cent in 1990 to 65 per cent
households fell from 15 per cent in 1990 to
in 2010 (Chart 4).
8.3 per cent in 2010.
CHART 3
HOUSEHOLD LIVING ARRANGEMENT OF RESIDENT HOUSEHOLDS WITH HEADS

AGED BELOW 35 YEARS, 1990-2010
Per Cent
2.1
5.3
5.6
5.0
6.3
8.2
4.8
8.4
8.6
9.8
10.0
6.8
7.2
19.4
2.3
21.6
1.9
7.7
11.4
1990
57.4
1995
47.7
2000
Living Alone
Lone Parent
2.0
29.2
30.4
56.2
19.1
2.3
27.2
39.6
36.2
2005
2010
4
CHART 4
March 2014

AGED 35-49 YEARS, 1990-2010
Per Cent
3.5
2.5
2.6
3.3
3.4
3.2
6.2
6.0
6.1
6.5
6.8
5.1
5.9
7.4
5.3
7.5

8.7
9.8
Living Alone
5.3
8.7
5.5
Lone Parent
10.1
70.5
67.4
64.7
2000
2005
2010
5.6
5.1
4.0
77.0
76.4
1990
1995
CHART 5

AGED 50-64 YEARS, 1990-2010
Per Cent
4.5
2.9
2.7
4.0
4.2
4.4
6.7
6.8
4.6
7.6
4.8
5.2
9.1
11.9
10.5
9.7
Living Alone
8.2
5.4
7.7
8.3
Lone Parent
9.1
9.6
67.5
68.5
66.4
64.4
62.0
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
14.7
3.7
4.7

5
March 2014
It
65 Years and Over
passing away, leaving the other behind.
Among
households
the
result
of
one
spouse
The majority of the elderly who lived alone
persons (i.e. those aged 65 years and
were females (54 per cent in 1990 and 66
over),
per cent in 2010), reflecting the higher life
proportion
by
also
elderly
the
headed
is
of
couple-based
households with children declined gradually
expectancy of women compared to men.
from 44 per cent in 1990 to 33 per cent in

2010 (Chart 6).
Concluding Remarks
A drop was also observed in the share of
While
lone parent households, whose proportion
children remained the most common living
decreased from 20 per cent to 14 per cent
arrangement between 1990 and 2010, the
across the same period.
proportion of such households was on the
couple-based
households
with
decline. In contrast, the shares of coupleIn
contrast,
the
proportion
of
couple-
based households without children almost
based households without children as well

as one-person households were growing.
tripled from 8.4 per cent to 23 per cent.

Taken together, the shares of these two
The share of elderly heads living alone also
groups increased steadily from 14 per cent
nearly doubled from 9.4 per cent to 17
in 1990 to 26 per cent in 2010.
per cent over the same period. This trend

corresponds
to
stage
These trends may be seen as a reflection of
where grown-up children had left their
the ageing population, the delay in family
parental homes.
formation and reduction in family sizes.
CHART 6
the
life
cycle

AGED 65 AND OVER, 1990-2010
Per Cent
5.1
4.9
7.3
12.6
11.6
9.4
7.8
4.6
6.4
7.2
5.5
9.4
13.9
16.2
17.4
Living Alone
20.5
19.8
16.9
13.9
13.5
Lone Parent
8.4
11.1
17.5
21.2
23.5
44.1
43.2
38.1
36.0
33.1
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
6
March 2014
SingStat Table Builder Unveiled

Launched in August 2013, this free interactive application allows
users to build customised data tables, export data tables and plot
graphs and charts.
The SingStat Table Builder is a web-based
application developed by the Singapore
Department of Statistics to meet the
needs of data users using statistics on
Singapores economy and population.
It
contains
35
subjects
that
are
broadly categorised under Population and
FIGURE 1
Economy, covering more than 100 topics and

350 data tables.
Users may choose their required data table
through the selection panel on the SingStat
Table Builder homepage by clicking on the
relevant Subject, Topic and Title, as shown
in Figure 1.
SINGSTAT TABLE BUILDER HOMEPAGE
March 2014
Once the data table is selected, users may
For
transform the data and customise the data
variable
presentation
created
through
the
various
tools
instance,
Figure
Manufacturing
from
the
shows
+
new
Construction,
sum
of
two
available in the SingStat Table Builder to
existing variables through engaging the
help them in their analyses.
Compute > Summation function.
Display tools available in the Table Builder
Users who wish to explore the period-
include Partial Display and Pivot, while tools
on-period
for computation include basic arithmetic
variables may do so through the function
functions like Summation and Subtraction as
Compute > Compute Percentage Change
well as a tool to convert data into percentages.
(Figure 4).
FIGURE 2
percentage
growth
of
SELECTED TABLE ON GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT AT CURRENT MARKET PRICES,

BY INDUSTRY, ANNUAL
data
FIGURE 3
CREATING A NEW VARIABLE USING THE SUMMATION FUNCTION
FIGURE 4
CALCULATING YEAR-ON-YEAR PERCENTAGE CHANGE USING THE

COMPUTE PERCENTAGE CHANGE FUCTION
March 2014
March 2014
Besides arithmetic functions, the SingStat

Table Builder also offers a Chart tool,
which allows users to translate selected
data into various graphs and charts
for data visualisation.
FIGURE 5
PIE CHART ON SINGAPORE RESIDENTS BY ETHNIC GROUP, END JUNE, 2013
Lastly, when the customisation of the data

table or chart is complete, users may save
the results through the Export function for
offline usage.
Discover data patterns and trends through
the free-play of the SingStat Table Builder.
10
Users may choose from the list of charts

available, including bar charts, pie chart and
line graph. Figure 5 shows an example of a
pie chart of the data on Singapore Residents
by Ethnic Group, End June, 2013.
Visit www.singstat.gov.sg/tablebuilder today!
March 2014
2013 in Brief
Singapores population
... reached 5.40 million in end-June 2013.
Value added for the

manufacturing sector
... amounted to S$57.7 billion.
Singapores economy
... grew 4.1 per cent.
Investment commitments in
manufacturing and services
... reached S$12.1 billion in fixed asset investments.
Mean years of schooling

... was 11.0 years for male resident non-students
aged 25 years and over and
10.0 years for female resident nonstudents aged 25 years and over.
Total trade
... was S$980.2 billion.
International visitor arrivals

... reached 15,466 thousand.
Home ownership rate
... was 90.5 per cent.
Per capita gross national income

... increased to S$66,928.
Gross national saving

... was S$165.2 billion.
Official foreign reserves

... increased to S$344.7 billion.
Labour force participation rate

... was 75.8 per cent among males and
58.1 per cent among females.
Sea cargo handled

... reached 561 million tonnes.
Air cargo handled

... was 1,850 thousand tonnes.
Mobile phone subscriptions

... reached 1,560 per 1,000 population.
Residential wired broadband

household penetration rate
Resident unemployment rate

(seasonally adjusted)
Wireless broadband
population penetration rate
Inflation rate
... declined to 2.4 per cent.
Crime rate
... declined to 549 per 100,000 population.
11
March 2014
Overseas Visitors
The Singapore Department of Statistics
welcomed
visitors
from
Oman
and
Taiwan over the last six months. The

visits provided an excellent platform for
professional exchanges and sharing.
Topics
discussed
compilation
of
included
Singapores
the
gross
domestic product, balance of payments

and input-output tables, as well as the
conduct of household surveys.
Oman
Oman National Center for Statistics and
Information
H.E. Dr Khalifa Abdullah Hamed Al
Barwani
Chief Executive Officer
Mr Sulaiman Abdulrahim Alzadjali
Director General
Information and Publication Center
Mr Hassan Alawi Ahmed Alghazali
Director General
General Directorate of National Spatial
Data Infrastructure
Taiwan
Taipei City Government Department of
Budget, Accounting and Statistics
Mr Chang Chy-Chung
Deputy Commissioner (Statistics)
Ms Lin En-Ju
Sub-Division Chief
Ms Wu Wen-Hui
Assistant
Taipei City Police Department
Ms Huang Su-Jung
Director (Statistics Office)
12
Contents
1 Household Living
Arrangement in
Singapore,
1990-2010
7 SingStat Table
Builder Unveiled
11 2013 in Brief
12 Overseas Visitors
The Statistics Singapore Newsletter

is issued half-yearly by the Singapore
Department of Statistics.
It aims to provide readers with news of
recent research and survey findings.
It also serves as a vehicle to
inform readers of the latest statistical
activities in the Singapore statistical
service.
Contributions and comments
readers are welcomed.
from
Please address all correspondence to :

The Editor
100 High Street #0501
The Treasury
Singapore 179434
Fax : 65 6332 7689
Email : info@singstat.gov.sg

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Household Living Arrangement in

Singapore, 1990 - 2010

On the other hand, the parental home may

With the ageing of the population, delay

different stages of the life cycle, households

For example, a new household is formed

of children, and the passing away of the

terms of household living arrangement

As household members go through the

be characterised by a declining number

are broadly classified into the following

Copyright Singapore Department of Statistics. All rights reserved.

Statistics Singapore Newsletter

TABLE 1: HOUSEHOLD LIVING ARRANGEMENT CATEGORIES

Refers to households with a married head and spouse. This

Refers to households whose head is never-married/widowed/divorced/

Refers to one-person households. This includes ever-married persons who

Refers to other types of households with a family nucleus, for

Refers to other types of households without a family nucleus, for

Age Profile of Resident Household Heads

structure as well as marriage and family

The effect of the ageing population can

structure of resident household heads.

children remained the most common living

Households headed by younger persons aged

households declined from 66 per cent in

below 35 years declined from 23 per cent in

1990 to 56 per cent in 2010 (Chart 2).

1990 to 11 per cent in 2010 (Chart 1).

aged 50 years and over increased from

without children (from 8.4 per cent in 1990

35 per cent in 1990 to 50 per cent

to 14 per cent in 2010) and those living

alone (from 5.2 per cent in 1990 to 12 per

Household Living Arrangement

evolved in tandem with changes in the age

remained relatively stable at about 7 to 9 per

For statistical purposes, a family nucleus in a household can be formed by:

Statistics Singapore Newsletter

RESIDENT HOUSEHOLDS BY AGE GROUP OF HOUSEHOLD HEADS, 1990-2010

65 Years & Over

RESIDENT HOUSEHOLDS BY HOUSEHOLD LIVING ARRANGEMENT, 1990-2010

Other Households without Family Nucleus

Couple-Based without Children

Couple-Based with Children

Statistics Singapore Newsletter

Households Headed by Persons Aged

those living alone increased, with each

constituting around 10 per cent in 2010,

aged below 35 years, the proportion of

couple-based households decreased from

76 per cent in 1990 to 63 per cent in

Households Headed by Persons Aged

living alone more than doubled from 7.2

per cent in 1990 to 19 per cent in 2010.

persons aged 50-64 years, the proportion

This reflects the delay in marriage and

of couple-based households with children

decreased, albeit by fewer percentage points,

from 67 per cent in 1990 to 62 per cent in

Households Headed by Persons Aged

In comparison, the shares of couple-based

alone grew over the same period.

In contrast, the proportion of lone parent