General life tables for the 1990 Singapore resident population are given in this paper. Analyses were carried out separately for males and females for all ethnic groups as well as for Chinese, Malays and Indians. Average fractions of the last age interval lived were used to give a more precise derivation of the life table death rates from their corresponding age-specific death rates. The results show that in 1990, Singapore males had achieved a life expectancy at birth of 73.7 years while the females had attained a level of 78.6 years. These levels were comparable to those of many developed countries. Other interesting features include higher differentials in the life expectancies between sexes among the Chinese and the Indians taking over the Malays for second placing in terms of life expectancy at birth for both sexes. As a result, the Indians registered a 12% gain in life expectancy at birth for males for the decade 1980 to 1990, compared to only 7.1% for Chinese and 4.4% for Malays as well as nearly 10% for females compared to only 6.2% for Chinese and 6.3% for Malays. A subsequent paper will highlight the results of multiple-decrement life table analyses which will summarise the mortality of the 1990 Singapore resident population for various component causes of death rather than for all causes combined.