SilverPulse

Inspiration

Singapore became a super-aged society in 2026, and with a resident fertility rate of just 0.87 in 2025 (SingStat, preliminary; replacement level is 2.1), seniors will make up an ever-larger share of the population, with more than 1 in 4 citizens aged 65+ by 2035.

That has a knock-on effect on manpower: fewer births today means fewer young people entering the workforce over the next two to three decades, just as more seniors need care. The same shrinking pool must supply the nurses, care staff, AAC volunteers and family caregivers that an ageing population depends on, so every hour of care has to go where it does the most good.

With that in mind, I noticed that two of the DAISI problem statements, A1 SilverWatch (social isolation) and A3 HealthPulse (community healthcare demand), describe the same problem from opposite ends. A1 looks at where the problem begins, with seniors cut off from support; A3 looks at where it lands, in rising demand for care. Put simply, as Singapore ages, gaps in eldercare become greater burdens on healthcare:

• Illness in seniors is often more complex to treat, taking more checkups, specialist time and bed space.
• Isolated seniors are less likely to see a doctor (Lim & Chan, 2017), and those living alone face 28% higher odds of emergency admission, with longer and costlier hospital stays (Barrenetxea et al., 2021).

This matters at scale. 1 in 5 citizens was polled to be 65+ in 2025, and those reaching 65 can now expect another 21.6 years of life, so more seniors will need support for longer. Within that wave, need is sharpest among the roughly 88,000 seniors who lived alone in 2025, more than double the number a decade earlier. Left unchecked, their small problems become emergencies, consuming the very manpower that is already stretched.

Singapore needs a strong net of eldercare and outreach for every senior, reinforced where isolated seniors live: Active Ageing Centres (AACs) catch problems early, and community care treats them early. If eldercare is the net, the question is where it is thinnest, today and in five years. SilverPulse sets out to answer that, so AACs and community care can be planned together where they are needed most.

What it does

SilverPulse maps where Singapore's seniors, especially those living alone, are concentrated today and in five years, overlays AACs and community care (polyclinics and GP clinics) and highlights:

• areas underserved now
• areas that will need investment next

It goes on to recommend whether each planning area needs more AACs, more community care, or both. It factors in announced polyclinics, so it flags only the gaps current plans won't close.

Intended Output

An AI/BI dashboard with a planning-area map of seniors and seniors living alone, now and in 5 years, overlaid with AACs and community care, with a ranked list of current priority areas and areas needing investment next and a Genie agent for open questions.

Built With

• data.gov.sg
• databricks
• onemap
• python
• singstat
• sql