Beyond Research

This space shares official statistics on issues relating to child protection and juvenile justice in Singapore. These figures have been extracted from state documents, the mainstream media and other published material.

* By October 2010, we will be publishing new statistics on youth resiliency gleaned from a national survey we are currently conducting on teens from all walks of life.

Resident population below 20 years of age
Youth demographics
Leadership & voluntarism
Sports participation
Selected labour force indicators
Selected education indicators
School enrolment rates
School drop-out rates
Unemployment rates
Residential Services and Child Protection
Beyond Parental Control
Recidivism rates
Youth offending
International adult incarceration rates
Child protection
Age-specific and total fertility rates
Teenage births
Abandoned babies and teen abortion rates
Suicides in children between 5 & 18 years of age

Resident population below 20 years of age

Resident population aged below 20 years by age group

	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
0-4 years	210,000	204,800	199,600	194,400	193,600
5-9 years	247,000	240,500	237,200	235,200	229,500
10-14 years	259,100	257,300	258,600	256,400	255,300
15-19 years	214,000	227,400	234,900	246,500	257,300

“As of end June 2007, the resident population was 3,583,100, a growth of 6.4% from 2003. Of the total resident population in 2007, 18.9% (678,400) were aged below 15 years …”

Source: Singapore’s Second and Third Periodic Report to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, January 2009 by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, Singapore (page 2 & 3)

Youth Demographics

Total youth population (aged between 15 & 34)

	2006	2007
Total population (‘000)	4, 401.4	4,588.6
Resident population (‘000)	3,525.9	3,583.1
Resident youth population (‘000) (Singaporeans and Permanent Residents)	1, 011.1	1, 024.8

Source: Yearbook of Statistics Singapore, 2008 and Resident Population, 2003-2007, Singapore Department of Statistics

Resident youth population by age group, gender, ethnicity and religion

Age group	2006	2007
15—19	24.4	25.1
20—24	21.7	21.4
25—29	24.9	24.8
30—34	29.0	28.7

Gender	2006	2007
Females	50.7	50.7
Males	49.3	49.3

Ethnicity	2007
Chinese	73.4
Malay	14.7
Indian	9.4
Other	2.5

Religion	2000
Christianity	14.5
Buddhism / Taoism	46.4
Islam	16.6
Hinduism	4.2
Sikhism	0.4
Other religions	0.2
No declared religion	17.7

Source: Yearbook of Statistics Singapore, 2008 and Resident Population, 2003-2007, Singapore Department of Statistics

Leadership and voluntarism

Involvement in leadership by age group (%)

	2002	2005
15—18	26.0	56.0
18—22	14.0	24.0
23—26	9.0	13.0
27—29	8.0	8.0

Source: Individual Giving Survey (2008), National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC)

National volunteerism rate (%)

Age group	2006	2008
Females	28.0	23.0
Males	11.0	13.0

Source: Individual Giving Survey (2008), National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC)

Sports participation

Regular sports participation by age (%)

Age group	2005
15—19	82.8
20—39	60.4

Top 5 popular sports among youth (%)

Sporting activity	Percent
Jogging	37.9
Football	22.5
Swimming	22.5
Basketball/street basketball	19.3
Badminton	16.4

Source: YOUTH Statistics in Brief 2009, National Youth Council

Selected labour force indicators

Age-age specific resident labour force participation rates (%)

Age group	2006	2007
15—19	12.4	13.6
20—24	70.7	66.6
25—29	89.0	89.9
30—34	87.2	87.7

Source: YOUTH Statistics in Brief 2009, National Youth Council

Selected education indicators

Mean years of schooling

	2006	2007
Mean years of schooling (resident non-students aged 15—29 years)	12.3	12.2

% pf Primary 1 cohort who say for:	2006	2007
PSLE and passed	98.6	98.5
GCE N or O Level Examinations and had at least 5 N Level passes or 3 O Level passes	86.7	87.5
GCE A Level Examinations and had at least 3 H2 passes (with a pass in GP or KI)	25.2	24.0

% pf Primary 1 cohort admitted into:	2006	2007
Institutes of Technical Education (ITE)	22.0	20.7
Polytechnics (including full-time Diploma students from LA SALLE College of the Arts & Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts)	41.0	42.2
Junior Colleges / Centralised Institutes	29.4	30.5
Universities (NUS, NTU, SMU)	23.9	23.6

Source: Education Statistics Digest 2008, Ministry of Education (MOE)

School enrolment rates

No of children not enrolled in Primary 1

152 kids in 2009, with a similar number shown the previous year
A new trend shows that children are registered in schools but may not attend

Enrolment Ratios of Students by Level of Study

	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Primary	94.9	94.9	97.3	96.6	97.1
Sec	93.8	93.4	94.3	94.5	95.1
Post Sec	50.6	49.5	63.9	68.7	71.8
Tertiary	46.8	47.5	51.9	55.9	58.6

*Enrolment ratios are expressed as percentage of population in that particular age group that are enrolled in schools
Source: Ministry of Education

School-drop out rates

% of cohort who dropped out of school

2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
3.2	2.6	2.3	1.9	1.6

Unemployment rates

Levels of unemployment by education

Education Level	2007	2008	Percentage Increase
Below Sec	13,100	21,300	65.4
Sec	15,700	16,200	9.4
Upper Sec	5,500	11,100	69.6
Polytechnic	3,900	6,400	64.7
Degree	6,200	14,800	123.1
Total	44,300	69,900	57.8

Residential Services and Child Protection

New Admissions to MCYS Juvenile Homes

	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Total	418	338	356	334	357
Homes
Singapore Boy’s Home	284	221	236	213	244
Singapore Girl’s Home	134	117	120	121	113

Source: Beyond Parental Control, Subordinate Courts Research Bulletin

Beyond Parental Control

New cases of BPC (2nd and 3rd UNCRC reports from MCYS)

	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Gender
Male	75	61	41	61	69
Female	89	75	70	86	71
Age
8-10 yrs	2	6	5	2	5
11-12 yrs	14	11	9	16	11
13-14 yrs	93	72	61	83	70
15-16 yrs	55	47	36	46	54
Total	164	136	111	147	140

On average there are 200 complaints to the Juvenile Court each year. Two-thirds of these cases are filed by mothers.

Common Complaints:
48% - Beyond Parental Conntrol
44% - Running away
2% - Theft and theft related issues
2% - Violence

Other less common complaints were truanting, defiance, secret society involvement, pregnancy and mental-related issues

Of these:

Two-thirds sought help from other agencies (e.g FSCs 44.6%) before going to court
GENDER: 2/3s are females are 1/3 males
ETHNICITY- 61% Chinese, 24% Malay, 12% Indians
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND: 6 in 10 of all BPC cases are in school – 61% (Lower Secondary), 25% (Upper Secondary), 12% (Primary), 2% (Institutes of Technical Education)

Source: Singapore’s Second and Third Periodic Report to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, January 2009 by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, Singapore

Recidivism rates

Recidivism rates (Singapore Prisons) within 2 yrs

1998	2002	2003	2005	2006
44.4%	31.2%	24.9%	24.2%	25.1%

Youth offending

Number of youths arrested between 7 & 19 years of age

Arrest rates	2006	2007
Number of Juveniles arrested (7-15 yrs) arrested	1987	2131
Number of Youth arrested (7-19 yrs) arrested	4280	4526
Number of admissions to MCYS Juvenile Homes:	467	477
Boys	346	364
Girls	121	113

Three of the most common offences for arrest (7-19 years of age)

Cases	2006	2007
Shop theft	1,260	1,294
Other theft (include theft of bicycles, theft from motor vehicles and theft from persons)	591	520
Rioting	500	461

Source: Crime Situation 2007, Singapore Police Force

Young offenders under 18 yrs sentenced to imprisonment or reformative training

2003		2004		2005		2006		2007
Imprisonment	RTC	Imprisonment	RTC	Imprisonment	RTC	Imprisonment	RTC	Imprisonment	RTC
267	166	192	150	176	157	65	124	50	137

Number of youth arrested for loan-sharking

2006	2007	2008	2009 (1st 5 months)
12	56	63	56

International adult incarceration rates

A listing of countries with some of the world’s highest adult incarceration rates in descending order (per 100, 000 population)

A comparative listing of adult incarceration rates

Country	Population per 100,000
USA	738
Russian Federation	607
Cuba	487
Ukraine	360
Singapore	350
Botswana	339
South Africa	335

From the National Council on Crime and Delinquency (November 2006)

Child Protection

Filings of Child Protection Order (CPO) cases in Juvenile Court

1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004 (1st half)
19	41	25	38	44	39	40	49	20

Children in Foster Care and Foster Mothers

	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
No in foster care	144	194	232	275	289
No of foster mothers in fostering scheme	137	154	161	178	189

New admissions to children’s homes annually

	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Gender
Male	171	264	228	262	281
Female	247	320	275	318	249
Age
<6 yrs	153	284	37	35	29
6-9 yrs	171	198	80	113	110
10-15 yrs	78	82	329	370	362
>15 yrs	16	20	57	62	29
Total	418	584	503	580	530

Child abuse cases investigated (MCYS)

	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
No of cases investigated	205	170	158	150	154
No of cases with evidence of abuse	103	92	101	58	98
No of cases with lack/no evidence of abuse but has stress factors	102	74	57	91	54
No of false complaints	0	4	0	1	0

Reported categories of abuse (MCYS)

Year	Physical Abuse	Sexual Abuse	Total*
Abuse
2000	34	15	61
2001	43	17	70
2002	32	29	69
2003	60	32	103
2004	49	22	92
2005	42	41	101
2006	35	19	57
2007	49	48	99
2008	56	49	114

* Includes physical neglect and emotional abuse

Age specific and total fertility rates (per 1,000 resident females)

Age group	2006	2007
15—19	6.6	6.1
20—24	30.6	31.2
25—29	79.6	78.7
30—34	93.1	94.4

Source: YOUTH Statistics in Brief 2009, National Youth Council

Teenage births

TEENAGE BIRTHS, 1998 – 2007

Year	Total
1998	787
1999	873
2000	953
2001	891
2002	843
2003	731
2004	781
2005	853
2006	838
2007	820

Of the 820 teenage births in 2007, 15 babies were born to teenagers below 15 years of age.

In 2007, there were 561 single parent registration births (registered without the father’s name). About 34.9% of these births (approximately 196) were born to teenagers.

Source: Report on Registration of Births and Deaths 2007 by the Registry of Births and Deaths, Immigration and Checkpoints Authority, Singapore

Abandoned babies and teen abortion rates

Recorded number of abandoned babies between 2005&2007

Abandoned babies reported	2005-2007
Found Alive	7
Found Dead	5

Babies born to mothers aged below 15 average approximately 15 babies a year (between 2004 & 2009)
In 2008, 10 babies were born to mothers under 15 and 798 to mothers (15-19 yrs)
The number of teenagers seeking abortion in 2006 and 2007 totaled to 2800
There were a recorded number of 1,289 abortions in 2008

*Statistics extracted from published media sources

Suicides in children between 5 & 18 years of age

SUICIDES IN CHILDREN 5 – 18 YEARS

Year	Total
2003	17
2004	9
2005	10
2006	7
2007	14