Indian Singaporeans

Indian Singaporeans

Indian Chettiar financiers in Singapore, circa 1920
Total population
362,274 Singapore Resident population (2020)[1] 707,420 9.0% of the Singapore population (2018)[2]
Languages
English Tamil (official) Malay (incl. Malay Chetty) Singlish Chinese Telugu Malayalam Punjabi Hindi Bengali Marathi Kannada Gujarati Sindhi Urdu
Religion
Hinduism Islam Christianity Sikhism Buddhism Jainism Zoroastrianism
Related ethnic groups
Malaysian Indians Chitty Jawi Peranakan Indians Chindians Tamil Malaysians Malaysian Telugus Malaysian Malayali Eurasians in Singapore Indians in South Africa, Indo-Caribbeans, Indo-Mauritians, Indo-Fijians

Indian Singaporeans are Singaporeans of Indian or of general South Asian ancestry. They constitute approximately 9.0% of the country's citizens, making them the third largest ancestry and ethnic group in Singapore.^[2]

While contact with ancient India left a deep impact on Singapore's indigenous Malay culture, the mass settlement of Indians on the island began with the founding of modern Singapore by the British Empire in 1819. Initially, the Indian population was transient, mainly comprising young men who came as workers and soldiers. By the mid-20th century, a settled community had emerged, with a more balanced gender ratio and a better spread of age groups.

Indian Singaporeans are linguistically and religiously diverse, with ethnic Tamils forming a plurality – although there are significant amounts of Singaporeans of South Asian descent that do not identify with the former, most notably the Sikhs. The Indo–Singaporean culture has endured and evolved over 200 years. By the late 20th century, it had grown distinct from contemporary South Asian cultures, with Indian Singaporean elements becoming diffused within a broader Singaporean culture that includes other ethnic groups.

Prominent individuals of South Asian descent have long made a mark in Singapore as leaders of various fields in national life. Indian Singaporeans are also collectively well represented, in areas such as politics, education, diplomacy the law and sports, among others.