Immigration brings 20,000 to 25,000 new citizens per year, while citizen births average 32,200 per year over the past decade. With an aging population and a declining birth rate, as our former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew said, our choice is to welcome immigrants. The Population White Paper, a controversial document released by the Singapore government in 2013, states that the projected population could reach 6.9 million Singapore citizens and permanent residents in 2030. There are two main aspects of the reasons why Singapore should continue to be open to immigrants for population growth – political and economic. Immigrants will support the People's Action Party (PAP) if they successfully apply to become Singapore citizens and can help improve productivity and expand our workforce. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The Singapore government encourages non-residents with work visas and gradually brings them to become permanent residents. In order for immigrants to eventually choose to become citizens of Singapore, our government heavily subsidizes citizens' healthcare and housing. They will also pay less taxes and benefit from more general social security schemes. In this way, the PAP will gain more support from these immigrants and continue to rule the country. Singaporeans have a very low total fertility rate of 1.2, meaning there are only an average of 1.2 children per woman. This rate is far from the replacement rate of 2.1, despite government programs aimed at encouraging parenthood, including offering incentives. Even if replacement is miraculously assured, there will be no economic growth with the same number of workers. To make matters worse for our shrinking workforce, baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964 are leading to an aging population. The percentage of seniors aged 65 and above in Singapore is expected to double to 27% by 2030, while the percentage of juniors aged 15 and below will decline to 10.8%. Some suggested providing more employment opportunities for older workers. However, productivity will decrease and this is not an effective solution. Based on the current growth of our citizen population, economic growth is expected to be less than half the average rate of 8% over the past 50 years. Therefore, immigration is necessary to have a larger workforce in Singapore and improved productivity. Additionally, increasing gross domestic product per person can benefit the competitiveness of our economy and broadening the tax base can be used. Our government looks at both quantity and quality, which means it will attract the best foreign talent to lead our economy. The Population White Paper predicts that around two in three residents will be professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs). However, Singapore does not have enough staff in certain areas like IT, so we need the support of foreign talent. This can help boost Singapore's economy by tapping these highly skilled migrants. The greater availability of workers allows companies to achieve higher returns on capital and increase their investments. Thus, new businesses emerge and existing ones grow, thus contributing to more job creation and.