According to the National Population Secretariat, the whole of last year saw 13,209 foreigners taking up Singapore citizenship and 57,310 taking up permanent residency.

In the first 10 months of this year, Singapore attracted 13,969 new citizens - much higher than the average of 9,600 in the past five years - and 53,011 new permanent residents (PRs), a 21 per cent rise compared with the average of 43,600 in the last five years.

Earlier media reports said that about 7,300 Singapore citizenships were granted in the first half of this year, and 46,900 foreigners were granted PR status in the first nine months of this year.

Dividing 13,969 (new citizens in the first 10 months) by 7,300 (new citizens in the first 6 months) gives 1.91. So, does it mean that the number of new citizens grew by 91 per cent in the last four months?

Similarly, dividing 53,011 (new PRs in the first 10 months) by 46,900 (new PRs in the first nine months) gives 1.13. This means that new PRs grew by 13 per cent in the last one month.

At these growth rates, the number of foreigners and PRs may exceed citizens in about 10 years' time.

Our foreign labour, citizenship and residency policies to grow the economy and population to 6.5 million may have contributed to inflationary pressures on prices, pushing the Consumer Price Index to a 25-year high.

Despite a record number of new jobs created, lowest unemployment in a decade, record number of investments and robust economic growth of 7.5 per cent, about 30 per cent of workers have not had any real increase in wages over the last six years or so.

Also, the number of ComCare beneficiaries, Medifund applications, Polyclinics Medical Assistance Scheme patients, and HDB one- and two-room rental applicants have all increased to record highs.

The above statistics may be a call for policies - like the broadening of the criteria for citizenship applications in 2004 - to be reviewed to balance population and economic growth with more help for Singaporeans to cope with rising prices and the competition for jobs and housing.

In this connection, I would like to echo and support the remarks: 'Success is more than GDP - What is needed are new benchmarks to measure how we as a society fare, based on how effectively the gains of growth are being distributed, especially to the weakest and neediest', which appeared in the report, 'My three hopes for the new year' (ST, Jan 4).

Leong Sze Hian