The population, taken from the June 30 census, was 4,017,733, up almost one million on the 3,047,132 head count of 10 years ago, despite a declining birth rate.

Singapore's aggressive international marketing campaign to build up its workforce was reflected in the non-resident population which more than doubled over the past decade to 754,524, or 18.8 percent of the population.

More than half the increase since 1990 was due to the number of non-residents, including students and foreigners not granted permanent residence.

Among the resident population, the growth rate was boosted by the number of permanent residents which grew at a rate of 10 percent a year for the past 10 years, compared to a more modest annual growth of 1.3 percent for Singapore citizens.

Singapore citizens now account for 74 percent of the population, down from 86 percent in 1990.

Chinese dominate the resident population at 76.8 percent, with 13.9 percent Malay and 7.9 percent Indian.

As the Singapore government tries to engineer a baby boom, the statistics highlighted the trend among Singaporeans away from establishing a family.

The number of people between 15 and 34 declined over the past decade, while the under 15 sector rose just 1.1 percent.

In the 30-34 age bracket, the number of single women rose from 20 percent to 25 percent, while the number of single men increased from 34 to 40 percent.