The Census of Population 2000 will mark a watershed in the history of Singapore's Census taking. Singapore will embark on an administrative register-based approach to obtain the basic count and characteristics of the population in Singapore. Outside Europe, Singapore will be the first country to use this approach. This is made possible with the use of the Household Registration Database which was set up in 1996, and the National Dwelling Database which was set up in 1980 and upgraded in 1996. Additional data for in-depth studies will be collected from a large sample of the population with the same reference period.

The register-based approach for the Census 2000 is the result of a comprehensive study, particularly on the following three key issues :

For more details on the new register-based Census 2000, please refer to the article "Feature - Census 2000" (22kb) .