Singapore is a paradise on earth. Debatable? Probably. Given that we all have different perspectives as to what paradise means. However, believe it or not, this country might be the closest to a utopia that the world has ever seen. Here are the reasons why:
Convenience Is a Habit
If you find yourself purchasing from online furniture stores in Singapore, know that you’re now a part of the largest e-commerce industries in the world. How so? Singaporeans love to shop online. According to the Asian Correspondent, e-commerce in the country is growing so much that sales are expected to reach SG$ 10 billion (more than €6 Million) by 2020.
As expected, however, they had a little trouble with shipping traffic. Fortunately, their government was quick to solve the problem through a delivery system called the Federated Lockers and Collection Points Programme. Now, isn’t their leadership the bee’s knees?
Moreover, you can smoothly go anywhere because aside from the country being small, they have close to 30,000 official cabs at your disposal. Additionally, you only have to wait for about 12 minutes for a bus, light rail, cable car, or ferry in the station. On top of that, there’s only an 11% chance for your wait to exceed 20 minutes.
As if the convenience of the commute isn’t enough, you don’t have to go too far for anything. Every neighborhood in Singapore has clinics, malls, convenience stores, and a whole lot more. You can practically never leave the neighborhood.
Strict Cleanliness and Sanitation Rules
Singapore is the definition of authoritarian when it comes to cleanliness and sanitation. Singapore is about 339 times smaller than all of the UK, but it has about 56,000 registered cleaners.
BBC Capital reported on Singapore’s efforts on their “war on dirt” for the last 50 years, which started in 1968 where they launched the Keep Singapore Clean Campaign. Consequently, the Singapore government launched its annual Tree Planting Day in 1971 and their Keep Our Water Clean Campaign in 1973.
Some of their sanitation campaigns also include the Keep the Toilet Clean Campaign (launched in 1983), which urges their people always to flush public toilets after use. If you are caught doing otherwise, you will be fined at around $150 — more if you’re a recurring offender. Think that’s too much? They also banned the import and sale of chewing gums.
Now, as weird as a rule might sound, you’re no stranger to the random gum stuck beneath the chairs in school. Also, don’t forget the occasional gum stuck to your shoe because some bloke spat their gum on the ground — which, by the way, is also illegal in Singapore, with fines reaching $1000. So let’s say they have their reasons.
A Highly Developed Economy
You might believe that you have a good grasp of the wealth of Singapore from the Hollywood movie, Crazy Rich Asians, but you probably still don’t. According to Time, one out of every 34 citizens in Singapore is a millionaire. Now, there are 5.64 million citizens in the country. Therefore, Singapore has over a hundred thousand millionaires, making it the sixth most millionaire-dense country in the world and number one in Asia.
Moreover, while the number of millionaires in a country can give you an insight as to how wealthy it is, more figures prove Singapore’s highly developed economy. According to Forbes, the country only has a 2.2% unemployment rate and a 0.6% inflation rate as of December 2018. For comparison’s sake, the UK had an unemployment rate of 3.8% and 2.48% inflation rate in the same month and year.
Despite these numbers, you’d be surprised to know that Singapore used to be poor when they first had their independence from Malaysia in 1965. They have a scarcity in natural resources and mostly relied on imports.
However, they made up for their deficit by developing their manufacturing industry and improving trade relations. And the country is now considered to have a thriving free-market economy, exporting electronics, chemicals, medical devices, petroleum products, and pharmaceuticals all over the world.
Leadership and Cooperation
All these facts about how Singapore rose from poverty and became a utopia on Earth can make you think, “how did they do it?” It might be because they had two essential things: effective leadership and cooperative citizens. Now, if only every country in the world had those, then we could all live lavishly, eh?
