Household Income
Household Expenditure Survey
Census of Population
How are population estimates compiled and who are included in Singapore’s population count?
Singapore adopts the De Jure population concept where the count of the population is based on a person’s place of usual residence. Singapore residents (citizens and permanent residents) with valid local addresses and who were not away from Singapore for a continuous period of 12 months or longer are included in the total population count. Non-residents comprising foreigners who were working, studying or living in Singapore but not granted permanent residence are also included in the total population. The transient population, such as tourists and short-term visitors, are excluded.
For more information, check out the Understanding Singapore's Population Estimates infographic.
What is a household?
A household refers to (i) a group of two or more people living together in the same house and sharing common food or other essential arrangements for living; or (ii) a person living alone or a person living with others but having his/her own food or other essential arrangements for living. Although persons may be living in the same house, they may not be members of the same household. For example, a family renting out a room to a tenant – if the tenant does not share or have meals with the family, the tenant belongs to a separate household.
What is the Gini coefficient? What are equivalence scales and why is it used in the computation of the Gini coefficient?
The Gini coefficient is a summary statistic that measures the dispersion of incomes on a scale of zero to one. A Gini of zero reflects perfect equality, where every household has the same income. A Gini of one represents perfect inequality, where one household has all the income.
Equivalence scales account for economies of scale among household members and adjust the income of households so that households with different compositions and sizes and be analysed. DOS compiles the Gini coefficient based on 3 different equivalence scales for international comparison as there are differences in computation methods adopted by different countries.
For more information, you may view the Understanding the Gini Coefficient Infographic and Understanding the Gini Coefficient video.
How are household income deciles derived?
Deciles are derived by arranging all households by their incomes from minimum to maximum before separating the households into ten equal groups. The first decile is the first one-tenth (the 10% of all households with lowest incomes). The last decile is the one-tenth of the households with the highest incomes.
It is notable, for example, that some resident employed households in the lowest 10% owned a car, employed a domestic worker, lived in private property, or were with household reference persons aged 65 years and over. It is important to recognise that not all households are consistently in the same decile from one year to the next. For example, an employed household may move down from a higher decile in a particular year due to temporary unemployment of a household member, before moving up the deciles when the member resumes employment in the subsequent year. In comparing the performance of any particular decile over time, it is therefore relevant to note that the comparison may not pertain to the same group of households.
What is the coverage of government transfers?
Government transfers included in different years are subject to scheme design and data availability. When administrative data on transfers are available, the coverage for Government transfers would be expanded to include them.
The full list of Government transfers included for the relevant years can be found in the 'Glossary of Government Transfers and Taxes' 
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in the Key Household Income Trends report.
What is Household Expenditure Survey (HES)?
The HES is conducted by the Department of Statistics (DOS) once in every five years to collect detailed information on households’ expenditure and data on demographic and socio-economic characteristics as well as ownership of consumer durables. It is carried out over a one-year period to cover households’ expenditure on all festive seasons.
Findings from the latest HES 2023 are available in the Report on the Household Expenditure Survey 2023.
How are the households covered in the HES selected?
The sample for the HES 2023 is selected from a sampling frame comprising all residential dwelling units in Singapore, based on a stratified design with disproportionate allocation.
Dwelling units in the sampling frame were divided into different groups (or strata) using information such as broad dwelling type and geographical region. A random sample was then selected from each group and combined to form the sample of 13,100 dwelling units.
What safeguards are there to ensure that my information provided for the HES is kept in confidence?
The HES is conducted under the Statistics Act 1973 which requires all selected households to provide the necessary information. All responses will be kept in accordance with the Statistics Act.
All our Department’s survey officers handling the individual survey information are required to sign the undertakings under the Statistics Act as well as the Official Secrets Act. They are fully aware of the provisions and the need to safeguard such information.
What is the Census of Population (COP)?
Conducted once in ten years, the (COP) is the single largest household survey undertaken in Singapore. It collects information on key characteristics of the population and households. The most recent COP was conducted in 2020. For more information, you may access the Detailed Census 2020 releases.
Watch this video to understand the evolution of census-taking in Singapore over the years.
What is the purpose of conducting the COP?
The COP is conducted once in ten years to collect information on key characteristics of the population and households. Data compiled are used by public sector agencies as inputs for policy planning and formulation by businesses, researchers, academia and the general public.
The conduct of Singapore's census is in line with the United Nations (UN)'s recommendation and international best practices for countries to conduct the national censuses once in every 10 years.
What are the statistics compiled in the COP?
The basic population statistics compiled in the COP include the following data drawn from administrative records:
- Population count
- Age
- Sex
- Ethnic group
- Type of dwelling
- Geographic distribution
Additional information, not available from administrative records, is collected and compiled from a sample survey. These include:
- Fertility
- Religion
- Education and literacy
- Language Spoken at Home
- Mode of transport
- Difficulty in performing basic activities
- Housing and household characteristics
Can data on language spoken from the Census of Population/ General Household Survey be used to identify people’s main language or those who are bilingual?
Data on language spoken in the Census of Population/ General Household Survey does not capture all languages that a person is able to speak. Instead, it refers to the language or dialect that a person uses most/ second most frequently at home when speaking to other household member(s). This may differ from the language(s) he/ she speaks in other settings, such as at work, at school or with friends.