More than 57,000 Malaysians renounced their citizenship for Singapore’s over last 5 years: Report
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Travellers at Woodlands Checkpoint on Aug 4, 2025. Of the 61,116 Malaysians who applied to become citizens of another country in the five-year period ended Dec 17, 93.78 per cent were bound for Singapore.
ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
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SINGAPORE – More than 57,000 Malaysians renounced their citizenship to become citizens of Singapore from 2020 to 2025, said a Malaysian official.
The figures were released in a Jan 7 report by Malaysian daily Harian Metro, citing National Registration Department director-general Badrul Hisham Alias.
A total of 61,116 Malaysians applied to move and become citizens of another country in the five-year period ended Dec 17, 2025, he said.
Of these, 93.78 per cent, or 57,315 applicants, were bound for Singapore, with 2.15 per cent headed to Australia, 0.97 per cent to Brunei and 3.1 per cent to other countries.
The largest group who applied to renounce their citizenship were those aged 31 to 40, at 19,287 applicants or 31.6 per cent.
There were 18,827 applicants aged 21 to 30, or 30.8 per cent; followed by those aged 41 to 50, at 14,126 applicants or 23.1 per cent; and those over 50, with 8,876 applicants or 14.5 per cent.
More than half of those renouncing their Malaysian citizenship were women, with 35,356 such applicants.
On average, 10,000 people apply to renounce their Malaysian citizenship a year.
“The factors that cause them to abandon their citizenship are known to be either economic- or family-based,” Mr Badrul Hisham told Harian Metro.
He cited examples of those working in Singapore being able to obtain citizenship due to employment- and income-related factors, while those who marry foreigners may choose to give up their Malaysian citizenship to emigrate to their spouse’s country.
Other factors may also include people giving up their citizenship to exercise privileges of a foreign country – such as voting – as Malaysia does not recognise dual citizenship in its Constitution.
An earlier report from The Star, citing Malaysia’s Home Ministry, said that a total of 97,318 Malaysians renounced their citizenship to become citizens of Singapore between 2015 and June 2025.
According to Singapore’s Population in Brief report released in September 2025
Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in March 2025 that every year, Singapore has about 30,000 citizen babies born and takes in about 22,000 new citizens
In Singapore, every new citizen goes through the Singapore Citizenship Journey programme Integration and Naturalisation Champions
