Singapore

Islands in southeast Asia, ruled since 1965 by the Xīnjiāpō Gònghéguó/Republic of Singapore

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Singapore, officially Republik Singapura, is an island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It is about one degree of latitude (137 km) north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bordering the Strait of Malacca to the west, the Singapore Strait to the south along with the Riau Islands in Indonesia, the South China Sea to the east, and the Straits of Johor along with the State of Johor in Malaysia to the north. Singapore's history dates back at least eight hundred years, having been a maritime emporium known as Temasek and subsequently a major constituent part of several successive maritime empires.

Geographical type: Territory

Latitude: 1.3° N — Longitude: 103.8° E

Area: 719 km²

ISO 3166-2 code: SG

Measures of Freedom

Economic Freedom Summary Index, Economic Freedom of the World, 16 Oct 2024
2022 overall score: 8.55, rank: 2

Human Freedom Index [PDF], The Human Freedom Index 2023: A Global Measurement of Personal, Civil, and Economic Freedom
2021: 7.75, Rank: 44, Personal freedom: 7.17, Economic freedom: 8.56

Singapore: Freedom in the World 2024 Country Report, Freedom in the World 2024
2024: Status: Partly Free, Aggregate Score: 48/100, Political Rights: 19/40, Civil Liberties: 29/60

Singapore's parliamentary political system has been dominated by the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) and the family of current prime minister Lee Hsien Loong since 1959. The electoral and legal framework that the PAP has constructed allows for some political pluralism, but it constrains the growth of opposition parties and limits freedoms of expression, assembly, and association.

Articles

The Recipe for Singapore's Prosperity, by Daniel J. Mitchell, 17 Jul 2017
Examines various policies in Singapore that have led to its ranking high in the Economic Freedom of the World, but also pointing out problems that detract from a similar score in the Human Freedom Index

I ... greatly admire Singapore's strict adherence to my Golden Rule for a 10-year period beginning in the late 1990s. Government spending actually shrank by a bit more than 1 percent per year, on average, over that decade ... What's especially attractive is that the welfare state is very small in Singapore. According to the IMF ..., expenditures on "social development" are only about 8 percent of GDP, and that category includes education and health care ... One of the reasons the welfare state is so small is that individuals are required to set aside their own money for health and retirement.

Related Topics: Freedom of the Press, Taxation

Videos

Singapore must be clear-eyed about dangers ahead: PM Wong on implications of US tariffs, 4 Apr 2025
Prime Minister Wong calls the "Liberation Day" announcements "a seismic change" and says the United States "is abandoning the entire [multitateral trading] system it had created"

The US has placed Singapore in the lowest base tier ... So the direct impact on us may be limited—for now ... Singapore has decided not to impose retaliatory tariffs ... Singapore will take a bigger hit than others, because of our heavy reliance on trade ... We will stay vigilant. We will build up our capabilities. We will strengthen our network of partnerships with like-minded countries. We are more ready than many other countries with our reserves, our cohesion, and our resolve ... [I]f we stay resolute and united, Singapore will continue to hold its own in this troubled world.