For a 4th straight year, Singapore is the country of choice for expatriates, although its high cost of living and poor work-life balance were noted.
The HSBC’s Expat Explorer Survey 2018, released on Thursday (Oct 10) showed that Singapore scored well across a broad range of measures — 3rd place in the league tables for economics, 5th for family and sixth for experience, which includes culture, safety and healthcare.
The survey was based on interviews with 22,318 expatriates in 163 markets worldwide in March and April this year. More than half (56%) of the 524 expats interviewed in Singapore were aged between 35 and 54.
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Singapore No. 1 out of 157 countries in World Bank Human Capital Index
Singapore has emerged top among 157 countries in the inaugural World Bank Human Capital Index (HCI), which measures the human capital that a child born today can expect to attain by the age of 18.
The index defines human capital as the knowledge, skills, & health that people accumulate over their lives.
The report was released on Thursday (Oct 11) by the international financial institution at the World Bank-International Monetary Fund Annual Meetings in Bali, Indonesia.
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Singapore in bottom 10 of countries tackling inequality
This is based on an estimate of Singapore’s wealth distribution by Credit Suisse, as there is no official statistics on how wealth is distributed here. The bottom 20% owns 1% of the overall wealth.
But the wealthiest 20% are not homogeneously wealthy. Dr Ong pointed out that looking at 20% of people at a time is a broad measure.
“For example, within the top 20%, you have the one-percenters who are multi-billionaires and fly around on private jets, “ she said. “And you have people like you and me who are earning a decent living but we're still taking out mortgages for our homes”.
Singapore is the world's most expensive city 2018
Singapore has been dubbed the world's most expensive city to live in for the fifth year running.
The city state marched in ahead of New York, London and Los Angeles, which didn't even feature in the top 10 priciest places in the Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) Worldwide Cost of Living 2018 survey.
The EIU's annual ranking compares the prices of over 150 items in 133 cities around the world, such as bread, wine, cigarettes and petrol. It is designed to help hiring managers calculate fair salaries when relocating their employees overseas.
Singapore ranked 34th in World Happiness Report 2018, Finland takes top position
World's Happiest Countries 2018
The World Happiness Report 2018, ranks 156 countries by their happiness levels, and 117 countries by the happiness of their immigrants. This year, Singapore is ranked 34th, a drop from 2017’s ranking of 26th.
Overall rankings of country happiness are based on the pooled results from Gallup World Poll surveys from 2015-2017, and show both change and stability.
All the top countries tend to have high values for all six of the key variables that have been found to support well-being: income, healthy life expectancy, social support, freedom, trust and generosity. Among the top countries, differences are small enough that that year-to-year changes in the rankings are to be expected.
Singapore rate best for expats for second year
Based on responses from almost 27,000 expats in 190 countries, the survey also found that Singapore was adjudged as one of the world's four best locations – along with Hong Kong, the UK and US – for an expatriate seeking to advance his or her career.
The survey, conducted for HSBC by YouGov, asked expats how easy it was for them to live, work and raise a family where they were based.
Dean Blackburn, head of HSBC Expat, said, “Expats consistently tell us that moving abroad has helped them achieve their ambitions and long-term financial goals, from getting access to better education for their children to buying property or saving more for retirement.
Singapore Needs Immigrants, Says Jim Rogers
Legendary American investor Jim Rogers moved to Singapore in 2007. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
When Rogers uprooted his family from New York and moved to Singapore in 2007, he famously declared, "If you were smart in 1807 you moved to London, if you were smart in 1907 you moved to New York City, and if you are smart in 2007 you move to Asia." Six years later, he says he remains very happy about this decision and his daughters enjoy going to Chinese schools in Singapore.
While he describes Singapore as being "extraordinarily well run," Rogers believes that limiting immigration will be detrimental to its future development. "One of the reasons why Singapore has been successful is because it encouraged immigration and nearly everyone in Singapore is an immigrant or family of an immigrant," he says, before adding that "Lee Kuan Yew [Singapore’s founding Prime Minister] is a second-generation immigrant."
With its low taxes, low unemployment rate, and good rule of law, Singapore has always been an appealing immigration destination. In recent years, it has also become a haven for the world's rich and famous. Besides Jim Rogers, Singapore's new residents include Chinese celebrities Jet Li and Gong Li, as well as several members of Forbes Asia's Singapore rich list: New Zealand-born investor Richard Chandler (No. 5), Facebook FB co-founder Eduardo Saverin (No. 8), and property tycoons Raj Kumar & Kishin RK (No. 11), among others.
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Facebook Co-Founder Eduardo Saverin Becomes Singapore's Richest Person
Billionaire Eduardo Saverin, the Facebook co-founder, who became a Singapore resident after renouncing his U.S. citizenship in 2012, is now the island-nation’s richest person. With an estimated net worth of $10.1 billion, Saverin, 35, edged past property siblings Robert & Philip Ng, who have occupied the top spot as Singapore’s richest since 2010 and have an estimated fortune of $10 billion.
A Singapore resident since 2012 when he gave up his U.S. citizenship, Saverin has enjoyed a boost to his wealth from rising shares of Facebook, in which he continues to hold a minority stake. Since Forbes Asia’s compilation of Singapore’s 50 Richest in August, when the Brazilian-born entrepreneur was ranked at No.2 with $9.3 billion, Facebook’s stock is up by close to 13%.
Despite recent economic hitches, Singapore’s status as a safe haven for foreign investors remains intact and it continues to be a magnet for the well-heeled from around the world. Saverin leads a steadily growing group of foreign-born entrepreneurs, who now feature in the ranks of the city’s state’s wealthiest. Other notable billionaire members include New Zealand native Richard Chandler, who runs Clermont Group, his Singapore-headquartered personal investment fund; American mining baron Robert Friedland and Indian-born oil and gas tycoon Arvind Tiku.
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