Singapore's population is at its lowest in over a decade since thegovernment tightened immigration, according to figures released by theStatistics Department of Singapore on September 25.

By June2014, the city-state's population was 5.47 million, up 1.3 percentyear-on-year. The birth rate fell to 1.19 births per woman in 2013,compared to 1.29 in 2012.

While Singaporean nationals numbered3.34 million, up 0.9 percent from the year before, permanent foreignresidents totalled 527,700, down 0.7 percent.

Currently, almost athird of the country’s population are foreign non-residents living,working, and studying in Singapore who have not been granted permanentresidency status.

In total, foreigners make up nearly 40 percent of Singapore’s population.

However,local citizens have complained that they are forced to compete withforeign workers for jobs. Furthermore, concerns have been raised overthe issue of overcrowding on the wealthy but small island.

Toaddress the issue of mass immigration, the government has implemented anumber of measures to limit the amount of foreigners being hired andrestrict permanent residency.

In an effort to increase populationgrowth, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong urged young Singaporean couplesto have more children and boost birth rates.-VNA