Singapore's Chinese-speaking population has dropped to 29.9% English has become the most commonly used language at home

The Bureau of Statistics released the first batch of data from the "2020 National Census".

Among local Chinese residents aged 15 and over, 17.3% only know one language, which is 4.4 percentage points lower than that in 2010 (21.7%).

This percentage is also higher than those of Malay compatriots who only speak Malay (9.4%) and Indian compatriots who only speak Tamil (3.2%).

Among the local Chinese, 11.1% only know English, which is 0.6% lower than 10 years ago. The population who are proficient in both Chinese and English has risen from 58% in 2010 to 62.3% in 2020.

Does this show that the bilingual policy that has been implemented for so many years has achieved results in the Chinese community?

It is worth mentioning that the statistics of these data also cover our permanent residents and new immigrants from Malaysia and China.

2020 - Languages proficient in Chinese residents aged 15 and above (%) (Statistics Bureau)

English has replaced Chinese as the most commonly spoken language in our homes

This result is not surprising at all.

In 2010, as many as 35.6% of local residents aged five and above used Chinese to communicate at home, accounting for the largest proportion at that time, followed by only English, accounting for 32.3%.

Ten years later, English has replaced Chinese as the main language spoken by local residents at home.

As many as 48.3% of local residents aged five and above communicate in English at home (16 percentage points higher than 10 years ago), while the population using Chinese at home has shrunk to 29.9%.

The following are Chinese residents who mainly communicate in English at home by age group:

(Statistics Bureau)

Regardless of age group, the number of people who speak English at home has increased by at least 10-20% compared to 2010. Among them, residents aged 15 to 24 have the most significant increase compared with 10 years ago: 28.5%.

followed by:

Ages 5 to 14: 25.5%

25 to 34 years old: 24.3%

35 to 44 years old: 14%

45 to 54: 12.4%

55 and over: 9.8 percent

Many informants suggested that the future census should also investigate how many people speak Singlish in the local area?

Up to 87% of residents are bilingual at home

What is more gratifying is that among the local English-speaking families most often, 87% also speak a second language at home, of which 56.1% speak Chinese and 7.2% speak Chinese dialects.

This is the first time the Bureau of Statistics has counted the second language most commonly spoken by residents at home, so comparisons to earlier situations cannot be made.

Only 8.7% of residents use dialect at home, a drop of 5.6 percentage points from 14.3% 10 years ago. It seems that the "Speak Mandarin Campaign" has really worked.

13.2% of the population speaks only English at home.

Increase in multilingual population

The literacy rate of local residents over the age of 15 has increased slightly to 97.1 percent from 95.9 percent a decade ago. The literacy rates of the three major Chinese, Malay and Indian ethnic groups are 96.8%, 97.9% and 98.4% respectively, and the three groups are comparable.

There has also been an increase in the number of Singapore residents who are multilingual. More than 90% of the group aged 15 to 34, and more than 80% of the group aged 35 to 54 are proficient in multiple languages.

Among them, the proportion of residents aged 45 to 54 who are proficient in two or more languages has surged from 63.6% in 2010 to 80% in 2020.

As for the group aged 55 and over, only half of them are monolingual, although this is 11 percentage points less than 10 years ago.

One or more languages spoken by residents aged 15 and over by age group. (Statistics Bureau)

Only a third of new Chinese immigrants speak only Mandarin at home

Another interesting set of data is:

Don't think that the local residents born in China only communicate in Chinese at home, in fact, only one-third of them do so.

10% of new Chinese immigrants mainly communicate in English at home, and 88% of them also speak Chinese at home.

78% of new Chinese immigrants mainly communicate in Chinese at home, and 44% of them also speak English at home.

In the 2030 census 10 years later, I am afraid that the proportion of people who only speak English at home will continue to increase, and the proportion of people who often speak Chinese at home will continue to decline.