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Singapore Language and
Literacy
The official languages of
Singapore are Malay, Chinese (Mandarin), Tamil and English. Malay is the
national language and English the language of administration. Mandarin is
widely used among the Chinese in place of the Chinese dialects of Hokkien,
Teochew, Cantonese, Hakka, Hainanese and Foochow. Besides Tamil, other
languages spoken by the Indians include Malayalam, Punjabi, Telegu, Hindi and
Bengali.
In 2003, the general
literacy rate, defined as the number of literate residents per 100 residents
aged 15 years and over, was estimated to be 94.2 percent. The estimated
literacy rate for males was 96.9 percent while the estimated literacy rate for
females was 90.6 percent.
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