| Economy - overview | Singapore has a highly developed and successful free-market economy. It enjoys an open and corruption-free environment, stable prices, and a per capita GDP higher than that of most developed countries. Unemployment is very low. The economy depends heavily on exports, particularly of electronics, petroleum products, chemicals, medical and optical devices, pharmaceuticals, and on Singapore’s vibrant transportation, business, and financial services sectors. The economy contracted 0.6% in 2009 as a result of the global financial crisis, but has continued to grow since 2010. Growth from 2012-2017 was slower than during the previous decade, a result of slowing structural growth - as Singapore reached high-income levels - and soft global demand for exports. Growth recovered to 3.6% in 2017 with a strengthening global economy. The government is attempting to restructure Singapore’s economy to reduce its dependence on foreign labor, raise productivity growth, and increase wages amid slowing labor force growth and an aging population. Singapore has attracted major investments in advanced manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and medical technology production and will continue efforts to strengthen its position as Southeast Asia's leading financial and technology hub. Singapore is a signatory of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and a party to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) negotiations with nine other ASEAN members plus Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, and New Zealand. In 2015, Singapore formed, with the other ASEAN members, the ASEAN Economic Community. |
| GDP (purchasing power parity) | $555.193 billion (2019 est.) $551.152 billion (2018 est.) $532.832 billion (2017 est.) note: data are in 2010 dollars |
| GDP (official exchange rate) | $372.088 billion (2019 est.) |
| GDP - real growth rate | 0.73% (2019 est.) 3.48% (2018 est.) 4.34% (2017 est.) |
| GDP - per capita (PPP) | $97,341 (2019 est.) $97,745 (2018 est.) $94,941 (2017 est.) note: data are in 2010 dollars |
| Gross national saving | 42.8% of GDP (2019 est.) 43.9% of GDP (2018 est.) 45.4% of GDP (2017 est.) |
| GDP - composition, by end use | household consumption: 35.6% (2017 est.) government consumption: 10.9% (2017 est.) investment in fixed capital: 24.8% (2017 est.) investment in inventories: 2.8% (2017 est.) exports of goods and services: 173.3% (2017 est.) imports of goods and services: -149.1% (2017 est.) |
| GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 0% (2017 est.) industry: 24.8% (2017 est.) services: 75.2% (2017 est.) |
| Ease of Doing Business Index scores | Overall score: 86.2 (2020) Starting a Business score: 98.2 (2020) Trading score: 89.6 (2020) Enforcement score: 84.5 (2020) |
| Population below poverty line | NA |
| Labor force | 3.778 million (2019 est.) note: excludes non-residents |
| Labor force - by occupation | agriculture: 0.7% industry: 25.6% services: 73.7% (2017) note: excludes non-residents |
| Unemployment rate | 2.25% (2019 est.) 2.1% (2018 est.) |
| Unemployment, youth ages 15-24 | total: 9.1% male: 6.2% female: 12.5% (2016 est.) |
| Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: 1.6% highest 10%: 27.5% (2017) |
| Distribution of family income - Gini index | 45.9 (2017) 45.8 (2016) |
| Budget | revenues: 50.85 billion (2017 est.) expenditures: 51.87 billion (2017 est.) note: expenditures include both operational and development expenditures |
| Taxes and other revenues | 15.7% (of GDP) (2017 est.) |
| Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-) | -0.3% (of GDP) (2017 est.) |
| Public debt | 111.1% of GDP (2017 est.) 106.8% of GDP (2016 est.) note: Singapore's public debt consists largely of Singapore Government Securities (SGS) issued to assist the Central Provident Fund (CPF), which administers Singapore's defined contribution pension fund; special issues of SGS are held by the CPF, and are non-tradable; the government has not borrowed to finance deficit expenditures since the 1980s; Singapore has no external public debt |
| Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 0.5% (2019 est.) 0.4% (2018 est.) 0.5% (2017 est.) |
| Credit ratings | Fitch rating: AAA (2003) Moody's rating: Aaa (2002) Standard & Poors rating: AAA (1995) |
| Agriculture - products | poultry, eggs, vegetables, pork, duck meat, spinach, pig offals, bird eggs, pig fat, cabbages |
| Industries | electronics, chemicals, financial services, oil drilling equipment, petroleum refining, biomedical products, scientific instruments, telecommunication equipment, processed food and beverages, ship repair, offshore platform construction, entrepot trade |
| Industrial production growth rate | 5.7% (2017 est.) |
| Current Account Balance | $63.109 billion (2019 est.) $64.042 billion (2018 est.) |
| Exports | $626.68 billion (2019 est.) $636.565 billion (2018 est.) $588.576 billion (2017 est.) |
| Exports - commodities | integrated circuits, refined petroleum, gold, gas turbines, packaged medicines (2019) |
| Exports - partners | China 15%, Hong Kong 13%, Malaysia 9%, United States 8%, Indonesia 7%, India 5% (2019) |
| Imports | $533.478 billion (2019 est.) $542.802 billion (2018 est.) $505.736 billion (2017 est.) |
| Imports - commodities | integrated circuits, refined petroleum, crude petroleum, gold, gas turbines (2019) |
| Imports - partners | China 16%, Malaysia 11%, United States 9%, Taiwan 7%, Japan 5%, Indonesia 5% (2019) |
| Reserves of foreign exchange and gold | $279.9 billion (31 December 2017 est.) $271.8 billion (31 December 2016 est.) |
| Debt - external | $1,557,646,000,000 (2019 est.) $1,528,177,000,000 (2018 est.) |
| Exchange rates | Singapore dollars (SGD) per US dollar - 1.33685 (2020 est.) 1.35945 (2019 est.) 1.3699 (2018 est.) 1.3748 (2014 est.) 1.2671 (2013 est.) |
| Fiscal year | 1 April - 31 March |
Source: CIA World Factbook
This page was last updated on September 18, 2021
