Name: Why is Singapore So Rich?
Uploaded: 2025-11-14T21:01:10.000Z
Duration: 9 min 6 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

In the 1960s, it was poor, overcrowded, and had no natural resources.

Singapore has become one of the wealthiest countries on Earth.

Most people assumed this country would struggle.

That was in 1965, when Singapore became independent.

It didn't have land to grow food, it didn't have oil, it didn't have minerals.

It didn't even control its own water supply.

Housing was packed, jobs were limited, and

the economy depended almost entirely on trade that would pass through the region.

Ten years from now, this will be a metropolis.

At the time, everyone thought that it would collapse.

But instead, it became one of the fastest growing economies in history.

Today, Singapore's income per person is above $80,000 a year.

That's higher than many European countries.

Singapore has become home to major banks, tech companies, and

it's now one of the busiest ports on earth.

But how does a small island end up richer than Singapore?

Singapore's leaders focused on a simple idea.

If doing business is difficult, well, companies will leave.

It made it insanely easy to do business here.

It lowered taxes, it wiped out corruption and invited global banks to set up shop here.

So they cut paperwork, they sped up approvals, they paid government workers fairly so that bribery would not become normal.

Courts handled disputes quickly, and that gave companies confidence that contracts would be honored.

See most places, build rules first and then try to attract companies.

As companies came, Singapore saw that many governments spend more than they earn.

While other countries piled up debt, Singapore built massive reserves for the future.

Instead of burning cash during good years, Singapore put money aside.

And today those savings are invested around the world through different funds.

These savings helped Singapore during global recession and during the pandemic so that it could support support workers and its people without taking on massive loans.

This is basically kind of like a national safety net.

It moved from manufacturing to finance, and now it's betting on tech, biotech and clean energy.

Today, Singapore is investing in semiconductor research, AI and medical labs, and renewable energy.

The country pays attention to where the world is going, not where it used to be.

One of the biggest initiatives Singapore has been working on for decades is bringing corporate headquarters here, or at least regional headquarters.

Where I'm standing right now is the heart of its central business district.

You have the headquarters of ByteDance, the global headquarters.

You also have the Asia Pacific headquarters for companies like Microsoft, LinkedIn, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, IBM.

They all sit right here in downtown Singapore.

See, when leadership teams move to a city, they also need to hire engineers, lawyers, accountants, designers, consultants and analysts.

And those people end up staying for years.

It creates layers of jobs, not just one job.

Another thing that Singapore has mastered is tourism.

Tourism spreads money across hotels, restaurants, retail, nightlife.

And somehow Singapore has turned it into a machine.

More than 30, 13 million tourists visit this island every year.

That's more than Vietnam or the Philippines.

Even though Singapore is tiny on a per person basis, it is dominating Southeast Asia.

With the average tourists spending around $1,300 here, compared to around $800 in Thailand or $700 in Malaysia.

So Singapore is earning more with fewer people.

Now obviously Singapore is more expensive, so it makes sense here.

But you can kind of see how that help zoom out to Asia.

And it still tries to compete with giants like China or Japan.

Except it doesn't have a domestic tourism base to rely on.

Tourism is around 5% of Singapore's economy.

When you measure the tourist spending per square kilometer, Singapore is basically unmatched.

Singapore's location makes it very attractive, so sits on major shipping routes between India and China.

It turned its location into its advantage.

It built one of the busiest ports in the world.

Roughly 20% of global shipping passes through Singapore.

Ships refuel here, they repair here and handle logistics here.

Banks finance trade deals from here and law firms settle shipping disputes.

Trade is not just boats here, it's an entire workforce that helps fuel the economy.

So because Singapore doesn't have much resources in the ground, it decided to invest in its people.

It built schools, it trained workers, and it gave almost everybody affordable public housing.

Today, More more than 80% of Singaporeans live in government built housing.

And these apartments are organized safe near transportation.

Homeownership is above 90%, which gives families stability and long term savings.

Singapore's education system ranks top in reading, math and science.

Worldwide, students here consistently outperform most countries.

A trained population attracts high skilled jobs, not just factories.

So to support that talent, Singapore built a network of technical Schools, polytechnics and universities.

Companies help shape the curriculum, so graduates are training on skills that the workforce actually needs.

And when tech changes, training programs here update quickly, something that many countries struggle with.

On top of that, Singapore runs ongoing retraining programs for adults, helping workers switch industries instead of getting left behind.

And this focus keeps unemployment low and productivity high.

Space is tight here, so Singapore has been finding ways to create more of it.

Not only did it build a ton of skyscrapers, but

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Why is Singapore So Rich?

ultimately

entire

struggle

massive