SINGAPORE’S NEED

Evening Star, Issue 22524, 17 December 1936, Page 9

SINGAPORE’S NEED

WOMEN OUTNUMBERED BY MEN There are three more or less eligible European bachelors in Singapore to every unmarried woman, according to an analysis of a census taken recently. The area under review covers only the municipality, and if the figures were taken to include the troops stationed at the naval and air bases at Seletar, they would reveal an even greater discrepancy between the male and female ratios of the European population. Even in Singapore itself, with its present European population of 8,338, the proportion of women to men has decreased in the last five years. In 1931 it was 572 to every 1,000 males. Today it is only 527. The Eurasians (half-castes) are the only race in Singapore to have more unmarried women than men. The figures are 2,562 and 2,499 respectively. The fact' that the European community has increased by 28 per cent, in the five years under review is attributable almost wholly to the recent strengthening of the defence forces in Singapore, including the addition of a second infantry battalion. Some of the barracks are in the municipal area, and therefore included in the census. One of the most serious deductions made from the census figures is the aggravation of Singapore’s housing problem in the last five years. An average of 14 persons are herded together in each dwelling house, compared with 11.4 in 1931. Although there hag been a 44,436 population increase since 1931, the number of occupied houses has declined from 33.403 to 33,321.