Portrait of Tony Tan

Birthday profile

Tony Tan

Tony Tan, Singaporean academic and politician, 7th President of Singapore

Born
February 7, 1940
Age in 2026
86
Zodiac sign
Aquarius
Birth year
1940

About Tony Tan

Tony Tan Keng Yam (born 7 February 1940) is a Singaporean banker and politician who served as the seventh president of Singapore between 2011 and 2017 after winning the 2011 presidential election. Prior to entering politics, Tan was a general manager at OCBC Bank. He made his political debut in the 1979 by-elections as a People's Action Party (PAP) candidate contesting in Sembawang Group Representation Constituency and won. He later served as Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore from 1995 to 2005. After resigning from the cabinet in 2005, Tan was appointed deputy chairman and executive director of GIC, chairman of the National Research Foundation, and chairman of Singapore Press Holdings (SPH). He stepped down from all his positions in 2010 before contesting the 2011 presidential election as an independent candidate. Tan won the 2011 presidential election in a four-way fight and served as the president of Singapore until 2017. He did not seek re-election in the 2017 presidential election, which was reserved for Malay candidates following a constitutional amendment. He officially retired on 1 September 2017 at the end of his presidential term. He was succeeded by Halimah Yacob on 14 September 2017.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Tony Tan timeline

  1. He made his political debut in the 1979 by-elections as a People's Action Party (PAP) candidate contesting in Sembawang Group Representation Constituency and won.
  2. Tan won the 2011 presidential election in a four-way fight and served as the president of Singapore until 2017.

The world when Tony Tan was born

Tony Tan was born in 1940. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1940

  • #1 song"In the Mood" – Glenn Miller
  • Top movieRebecca
  • Best-selling bookFor Whom the Bell Tolls – Ernest Hemingway

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentFirst televised college basketball game
  • Top headlineWinston Churchill becomes British Prime Minister
  • Technology milestoneFirst McDonald's restaurant opens
  • Defining fadSwing music hits its peak
  • Notable inventionJeep (military vehicle)
  • World population2.30 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderFranklin D. Roosevelt
  • Sports championCincinnati Reds (World Series)
  • U.S. population132.2M

1940 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Tony Tan's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19402026
Gas$0.18$3.45/gal
Average home$5,300$435,000
Average income$3,100$67,500
Minimum wage$0.30$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.25$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population132.2M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Library of Congress. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.