Asia | The view from the top

Singapore has achieved astounding economic success

Can Lawrence Wong, its incoming PM, oversee further growth?

Migrant workers conduct checks on a road surface, with the Singapore city skyline in the background.
Building up better?Photograph: Getty Images
|Singapore

Since its independence almost 60 years ago, Singapore has become a beacon of prosperity. In a part of the world where middle-income status is the norm, the city-state is now the richest country for many thousands of miles in any direction. At around $88,000, its GDP per person has doubled in real terms over the past 20 years. At the moment of its independence in 1965, the country was poorer on the same basis than South Africa or Jordan.

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This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “The view from the top”

The new economic order

From the May 11th 2024 edition

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