Insular+Southeast+Asia

Demographics of Southeast Asia


 * Countries || || Population || Median Age || Birth Rate || Death Rate || Pop. Growth Rate ||
 * Philippines || || 97,976,603 || 22.5 years || 26.01/1,000 || 5.1/1,000 || 1.96% ||
 * Brunei || || 388,190 || 27.8 years || 18.2/1,000 || 3.29/1,000 || 1.76% ||
 * Singapore || || 4,657,542 || 39 years || 8.82/1,000 || 4.66/1,000 || 0.99% ||
 * Indonesia || || 240,271,522 || 27.6 years || 18.84/1,000 || 6.25/1,000 || 1.14% ||



 =Singapore will slow down migrant intake= Singapore is planing to slow down its intake of foreigners for now, however they will need sustained immigration in the long run. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said, "We know we cannot take in unlimited numbers of foreign workers...We already have almost a million foreigners working here. I cannot imagine simply expanding year after year, and having two million workers here one day." Singapore is in the midst of its worst recession since independence in 1965. Over a million foreign workers and their family members now live in the city-state out of a total population of 4.8 million in 2008. Singapore does not have enough babies to renew their population each year. This is causing companies to hire immigrants overseas. The majority of these immigrants choose to stay full time keeping the jobs for themselves. Some Singaporeans have sent letters into local newspapers questioning the new workers in fear of losing their own jobs. If this is to continue we may see in the future a completely new Singapore with new culture and possibly new languages.

Not all have disagreed with these immigrants though. Lee Kuan Yew, founding father and first prime minister of Singapore, said that they need the new workers for the long term. He said, "Without new citizens and permanent residents, we are going to be 'The Last of the Mohicans'. We will disappear." For the rest of the story visit [|http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20090916/tbs-singapore-economy-population-migrati-0b9af05.html]  Diverse People in SIngapore

In Indonesia, The National Commission for Child Protection said Saturday it would stop its campaigning to end cigarette promotion. They had been pursuing this in hopes of preventing young children from taking up smoking. In an attempt they tried put restrictions on laws through a new health bill. Cahya Shima Dewi, the commission's communication officer said, "The bill should ban smoking in public places and tax on tobacco products must be increased as much as possible." She attempted to put these ideas into the health bill that was going through the House of Representatives. The bill was passed monday. There are only two articles on cigarettes. FIrst, Article 114 orders those producing or importing cigarettes to include health warnings. Second, Article 115 regulates on smoke-free locations. A higher tax on tobacco products was not mentioned though.
 * Child Protection**

(below) Map of Indonesia 
 * [[image:http://www.google.com/mapdata?CxXl9PP_HS9NygYg____________AQwt5fTz_zUvTcoGQI4CSLkBUgJJRJABDsoBAmVu width="270" height="185" link="http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&rls=en&q=Map+of+Indonesia&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Indonesia&gl=us&ei=qufCSuWWGNGutgeAkbH1BA&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CAwQ8gEwAA"]] ||  ||