Singapore

Introduction

Singapore officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island city-state located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. The population of Singapore including non-residents is approximately 4.86 million. Singapore is highly cosmopolitan and diverse with Chinese people forming an ethnic majority with large populations of Malay, Indian and other people. English, Malay, Tamil, and Chinese are the official languages. Singapore is a parliamentary republic, and the Constitution of Singapore establishes representative democracy as the nation's political system.

In 2009, the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked Singapore the tenth most expensive city in the world in which to live—the third in Asia, after Tokyo and Osaka. The 2009 Cost of Living survey, by consultancy firm Mercer, has ranked Singapore similarly as the tenth most expensive city for expatriates to live in.

II. Body

Singapore has a highly developed market-based economy, an export driven economy hugely dependant on export of goods to other countries. The economy depends heavily on exports and refining imported goods, especially in manufacturing. The manufacturing industry is well-diversified with significant electronics, petroleum refining, chemicals, mechanical engineering and biomedical sciences manufacturing sectors.

Gross Domestic Product:

Singapore has one of the highest GDP per capita in the Southeast Asia. Singapore is proclaimed as one of the four Asian Tigers because they achieved standard of living and high economic growth quickly among the highest in the world. Although Singapore is a very small country they managed to maximize their resources well.

The data below will show the progress of Singapore’s GDP:

2008 181.85

2007 161.35

2006 136.57

2005 119.78

2004 109.16

2003 93.15

2003 88.27

SINGAPORE’S GDP PER CAPITA (constant prices since 2000)

2007 28964

2006 28033

2005 26740

2004 25514

2003 23704

2002 22571

*in terms of US billion dollars...