It is a forecast of population decline in 2100 compared to 2020 in Singapore and Korea. In other words, Singapore is down only 7%, but Korea can reduce 65%.

According to the United Nations, Singapore’s population reached 5.89 million in 2020 and 5.92 million last year. After peaking at 6.41 million in 2042, the U.N. predicted that the number will increase to 5.44 million by 2100.
The Korean population, which has maintained its population due to immigration and peaked at 51.83 million in 2020, is expected to show a steady decline.

If the current trend continues, the Korean population is expected to fall below 18 million by 2100.
As of 2018, Singapore is a “country of immigrants” where more than 40% of the total population came from abroad.

Malaysian is the mainstream, and Chinese immigrants are also important. Chinese people, including former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, form Singapore’s elite.

Singapore’s population was also hit by COVID-19.

The Singaporean government said in its annual report, “The population of Singapore in 2020 is 4.1% less than in 2019, the largest decline since 1950.” It is interpreted as a result of the blockade measures caused by the aftermath of COVID-19.

However, since April, the population inflow has been recovering after the Singaporean government lifted quarantine measures such as restrictions on entry.

Singapore’s daily newspaper The Straits Times analyzed, “This is because the easing of the pandemic (pandemic pandemic) has made it easier for permanent residents to enter and leave the country overseas and the recruitment of job permits smooth.”

The number of Singaporean citizens increased only 1.6% from 3.5 million in 2020 to 3.55 million last year, while the number of foreigners who obtained permanent residency in Singapore increased 6.3% from 490,000 to 520,000 during the same period.

life and death in attracting talent

In Singapore, low birthrates and aging populations are also challenges to solve. Singapore’s total fertility rate hit a record low of 1.02 in 2020 and then recovered slightly to 1.12 last year.

However, it is analyzed that there is a limit to increasing the fertility rate.

Tan Porin, an associate professor of public policy at Lee Kuan Yew’s Graduate School of Public Policy, said, “The surest way to increase fertility is to promote immigration.”

In August, Singapore decided to establish a five-year employment visa for high-income foreigners and experts.

The move is aimed at attracting talented people who escaped during the COVID-19 blockade.

A five-year work visa will be issued to high-income earners with a monthly income of more than 30,000 Singapore dollars starting in January next year.

Professionals with outstanding performance in sports, science, and the arts are granted a work visa regardless of their income.

“In Singapore, where there are few natural resources, talent is the only resource,” Singapore’s Minister of Human Resources Development Tansreung explained the background of the introduction.

In a recent report, HSBC predicted that “Singapore will become the country with the largest number of millionaires in the Asia-Pacific region by 2030, beating Australia and Hong Kong.

” According to Henry & Partners, an investment immigration consulting firm, Singapore is the top three countries that have accepted millionaire immigration the most along with the United Arab Emirates and Australia this year.

Hong Kong, which competes for the Asian financial hub, has recently taken a sharp pro-China route, predicting that more wealthy immigrants will choose to go to Singapore.

EJ SONG

ASIA JOURNAL

Senior White House officials offered a preview of Trump’s immigration framework Thursday, casting it as a compromise that could pass the Senate. The proposal represents a reversal for the president, who once promised to eliminate an Obama-era program protecting immigrants brought to the US as children and now in the country illegally. He later urged lawmakers to extend the program, but maintained he was not considering citizenship.

The Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program currently covers roughly 690,000 of those younger immigrants — about half the number who qualify for the program, according to independent estimates. Trump’s plan would expand this further by adjusting some of the requirements, officials said, but they would not offer specific details. It would not allow parents of those immigrants to seek lawful status, the officials said.

US President Donald Trump waves as he walks to a dinner with European business leaders at the World Economic Forum, Thursday, Jan. 25, 2018, in Davos. (AP

On Wednesday, Trump said he was open to a pathway to citizenship for the younger immigrants. “We’re going to morph into it,” Trump told reporters. “It’s going to happen, at some point in the future, over a period of 10 to 12 years.”

Recipients could have their legal status revoked due to criminal behavior or national security threats, the officials said, and eventual citizenship would require still-unspecified work and education requirements — and a finding that the immigrants are of “good moral character.”

Trump ended the DACA program in September, setting a March 5 deadline for Congress to provide legal protections or the program’s recipients would once again be subject to deportation. The officials said Trump would only sign legislation providing those protections if the other immigration changes he is proposing are implemented.

Trump’s plan would only allow immigrants to sponsor their spouses and underage children to join them in the US, doing away with provisions allowing parents, adult siblings and others to enter the country. The officials said it would only end new applications for visas, allowing those already in the pipeline to be processed.

It would also end the diversity visa lottery program, which drew Trump’s attention after the New York City truck attack last year, redirecting the allotment annually to bringing down the existing backlog in visa applications.

The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the plan before its release.

Trump had previously ruled out the idea of citizenship for the Dreamers, saying in September: “We’re not looking at citizenship. We’re not looking at amnesty. We’re looking at allowing people to stay here.”

Trump earlier this month had deferred to a bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers to craft an immigration proposal, saying he would sign whatever they passed. But as talks on Capitol Hill broke down — in part because of controversy Trump ginned up using vulgar language to describe other countries — the White House decided to offer its own framework.

The release follows on concerns raised by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that the president had not sufficiently laid out his priorities. One official said the Thursday release represents a plan for the Senate, with the administration expecting a different bill to pass the House.

The nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute said it believes the largest share of the White House’s 1.8 million people who’d be eligible for citizenship — 1.3 million — are people who currently meet all of DACA’s eligibility requirements. These include years in the US, their ages now and when they entered this country, and whether they have a high school or equivalent education.

Another 400,000 are people who’d be eligible for DACA protection but for their education. And 100,000 more are people who are under age 15 —the minimum age allowed for most people requesting protection under the program.

Moderate Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said he was “very encouraged” by Trump’s surprising words, which the president made late Wednesday in impromptu comments to reporters.

But a spokesman for House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., blasted the plan as part of a “hateful anti-immigrant agenda.”

Drew Hammill accused White House aide Stephen Miller, a staunch opponent of illegal immigration, of “trying to ransom the lives of innocent DREAMers for a $25 billion anti-immigrant wish list.”

“The White House strategy of moving the goal posts every time the President isn’t paying attention continues to complicate this process,” he said in a statement.

On the Republican side, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., thanked the president and his administration.

“I am hopeful that as discussions continue in the Senate on the subject of immigration, Members on both sides of the aisle will look to this framework for guidance as they work towards an agreement,” he said in a statement.

Doug Andres, a spokesman for House Speaker Paul Ryan, echoed the sentiment saying: “We’re grateful for the president showing leadership on this issue and believe his ideas will help us ultimately reach a balanced solution.”

Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford said he supports the citizenship pathway Trump described. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., called Trump’s words “positive” and said Trump’s description “gives us a better sense” of his views, but added, “We have a long way to go yet.”

But some of Congress’ more conservative members seemed unwilling to open the citizenship door for the Dreamers.

“DACA itself didn’t have a pathway to citizenship,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who battled Trump in 2016 for the GOP presidential nomination. “So I think it would be a profound mistake and not consistent with the promises we made to the voters to enact a pathway to citizenship to DACA recipients or to others who are here illegally.”

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said he supports a more conservative, more sweeping immigration bill proposed by House members, including House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., which has won strong support from House conservatives. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., has promised to push for support for that measure.

Meanwhile, immigration activists blasted the plan. Lorella Praeli, with the American Civil Liberties Union, called it “a hateful, xenophobic immigration proposal that would slash legal immigration to levels not seen since the racial quotas of the 1920s, eliminate legal immigration channels for African countries, and spend $25 billion for a harmful, wasteful border wall and an increase in Border Patrol and ICE agents. ”

“The White House proposal is clearly an effort to sabotage bipartisan talks on the issue by continuing to put issues on the table that are non-starters,” she said.

(AP)