Singapore Wikipedia

Most major religious denominations are present in Singapore, with the Inter-Religious Organisation, Singapore (IRO) recognising 10 major religions in the city state. Singapore’s immigration policy is designed to alleviate the decline and maintain its working-age population. Since 2010, its TFR has largely plateaued at 1.1 children per woman, which is among the lowest in the world and well below the 2.1 needed to replace the population. Like other developed countries in Asia, Singapore experienced a rapid decline in its total fertility rate (TFR) beginning in the 1980s.

Pulau Ubin Island Of Singapore

In 1299, according to the Malay Annals, the Kingdom of Singapura was founded on inventory account: adjustment type affect the island by Sang Nila Utama. The Annals state that Sang Nila Utama encountered a strange beast on the island that he took to be a lion. While it is constitutionally a multi-party democracy where free elections are regularly held, it functions as a de facto one-party state, with the People’s Action Party (PAP) maintaining continuous political dominance since 1959. Multi-racialism is enshrined in the constitution and continues to shape national policies. As a highly developed country, Singapore has the highest PPP-adjusted GDP per capita in the world and is the only country in Asia with a AAA sovereign credit rating from all major rating agencies. Ideological differences led to Singapore’s expulsion from the federation two years later; it became an independent sovereign country in 1965.

British colonisation

On 9 August 1965, the Malaysian Parliament voted 126 to 0 to pass a constitutional amendment bill, thereby separating Singapore from Malaysia, which left Singapore as a newly independent country. The British government, for its part, believed that the merger would prevent Singapore from becoming a haven for communism. UMNO leaders believed that the additional Malay population in the Bornean territories would balance Singapore’s Chinese population. He resigned and was replaced by Lim Yew Hock in 1956, and after further negotiations Britain agreed to grant Singapore full internal self-government for all matters except defence and foreign affairs on 3 June 1959. During the 1950s, Chinese communists, with strong ties to the trade unions and Chinese schools, waged a guerrilla war against the government, leading to the Malayan Emergency.

One of those measures, a compulsory national health care plan, was to go into effect at the end of 2015. Helping to pave the way for a change in outlook were the resignations from the cabinet in 2011 of both Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chok Tong, a tacit admission by the government that their presence there was hampering new approaches and styles of governance. Such a transition took place in August 2004, when, following Goh’s resignation from office, Lee was named the country’s new prime minister. The economy continued to do well during most of Goh’s tenure in office, although the country was seriously affected by the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s. Goh Chok Tong, who for several years had served as Singapore’s deputy prime minister, succeeded Lee as prime minister in late 1990, although Lee remained in the government and powerful behind the scenes as a “senior minister” in the cabinet.

The southern limits of the state run through Singapore Strait, where outliers of the Riau-Lingga Archipelago—which forms a part of Indonesia—extend to within 10 miles of the main island. The main island is separated from Peninsular Malaysia to the north by Johor Strait, a narrow channel crossed by a road and rail causeway that is more than half a mile long. It consists of the diamond-shaped Singapore Island and some 60 small islets; the main island occupies all but about 18 square miles of this combined area. Singapore, city-state located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, about 85 miles (137 kilometres) north of the Equator.

• Military courses were conducted according to the IDF’s format, and Singapore adopted a system of conscription and reserve service based on the Israeli model.
• The older parts of the city have been substantially refurbished, especially along the Singapore River but elsewhere as well.
• Singaporean English is largely based on British English, owing to the country’s status as a former crown colony.
• A great deal of initial support came from Israel, a country unrecognised by Singapore’s neighbouring Muslim-majority nations of Malaysia and Indonesia.

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Beginning in the 1970s Singapore pursued an aggressive policy of economic growth based primarily on export manufacturing and trade. The ruling PAP termed its sweep of all parliamentary seats a mandate for its plans for reducing the economic effects of the British military withdrawal. In January 1968 the British government had announced that all British defense forces would be withdrawn from East and Southeast Asia (except Hong Kong) by the end of 1971. The PAP faced fresh dangers of subversion when Indonesian opposition to Malaysia took the form of military and economic confrontation (1964). The ruling People’s Action Party (PAP), led by Lee Kuan Yew, had refused in 1959 to form a government until extreme left-wing leaders of the party who had been detained by the colonial authorities were released. Elected ministers and a Legislative Assembly with an elected majority assumed government responsibility in 1955, except for matters of defense and foreign policy.

East India Company

The Constitution of Singapore is the supreme law of the country, establishing the structure and responsibility of governance. Singapore was one of eight cities worldwide that was classified as an “Alpha+” city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) in 2024. On 23 March 2015, Lee Kuan Yew died, and a one-week period of public mourning was observed nationwide.

Within Malaysia

As of mid-2025, Singapore’s total population stood at 6,110,200, of whom 3,660,200 (59.9%) were citizens and the remaining 2,450,000 (40.1%) were either permanent residents (543,800, 8.9%) or international students, foreign workers, or dependants (1,906,700, 31.2%). Tourism is a major industry and contributor to the Singaporean economy, attracting 13.6 million international tourists in 2023, more than double Singapore’s total population. Singapore’s approach does not rely only on physical infrastructure; it also emphasises proper legislation and enforcement, water pricing, public education as well as research and development. Singapore considers water a national security issue and the government has sought to emphasise conservation.

Culture

Some mangrove vegetation survives in the Kranji area on the northwest side of the island, but elsewhere tracts of scrub or cogon grass (called lalang locally) are common. Altogether, Singapore’s precipitation averages about 95 inches annually, and rain falls somewhere on the island every day of the year. The eastern part of the island is a low plateau cut by erosion into an intricate pattern of hills and valleys.

• The island was then nominally ruled by Tengku Abdul Rahman, the Sultan of Johor, who was controlled by the Dutch and the Bugis.
• Kranji Racecourse is run by the Singapore Turf Club and hosts several meetings per week, including international races—notably the Singapore Airlines International Cup.
• Lee’s government capitalised on Singapore’s favourable geographical position to develop the Port of Singapore into one of the world’s busiest ports, while the service and tourism industries also expanded significantly during this period.
• The Port of Singapore, managed by port operators PSA International and Jurong Port, was the world’s second-busiest port in 2019 in terms of shipping tonnage handled, at 2.85 billion gross tons (GT), and in terms of containerised traffic, at 37.2 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).
• Meanwhile, Tomoyuki Yamashita was tried by a US military commission for war crimes, but not for crimes committed by his troops in Malaya or Singapore.
• Despite market freedom, Singapore’s government operations have a significant stake in the economy, contributing 22% of the GDP.

Community Development Councils of Singapore Map

Its men’s water polo team won the SEA Games gold medal for the 27th time in 2017, continuing Singapore sport’s longest winning streak. Two street food stalls in the city are the first in the world to be awarded a Michelin star, obtaining a single star each. The largest hawker centre is located on the second floor of Chinatown Complex, and contains over 200 stalls. In 2018, there were 114 hawker centres spread across the city centre and heartland housing estates.

Languages

The country borders South China Sea to the east, the Strait of Malacca to the west, and the Riau Islands lie to the south. Singapore is the largest port in Southeast Asia and one of the busiest maritime ports in the world. Singapore (officially, Republic of Singapore) is a unitary state and is divided into 5 Community Development Councils (CDCs). To the south of the main island, the Southern Islands, a collection of about 60 islets, provide a different perspective of Singapore’s geography.

The nation’s lively urban musical scene has accounting examples of long made it a centre for international performances and festivals in the region. The government also places a heavy emphasis on meritocracy, where one is judged based on one’s ability. In the 2016 EF English Proficiency Index taken in 72 countries, Singapore placed 6th and has been the only Asian country in the top 10. In 2015, both its primary and secondary students rank first in OECD’s global school performance rankings across 76 countries—described as the most comprehensive map of education standards. In 2009, 20% of all students in Singaporean universities were international students—the maximum cap allowed, a majority from ASEAN, China and India.

In 1824, a further treaty with the Sultan led to the entire island becoming a part of the British Empire. The island was then nominally ruled by Tengku Abdul Rahman, the Sultan of Johor, who was controlled by the Dutch and the Bugis. The British governor Stamford Raffles arrived in Singapore on 28 January 1819 and soon recognised the island as a natural choice for the new port. In 1613, Portuguese raiders burned down the settlement, and the island faded into obscurity for the next two centuries. These Indianised kingdoms were characterised by surprising resilience, political integrity and administrative stability.

Singapore has a highly developed market economy, based historically on extended entrepôt trade. In response, amendments were made to the Women’s Charter by the government in 2019 to legislate more serious punishments for traffickers, including imprisonment of up to seven years and a fine of S$100,000. Pimps often traffic women from neighbouring countries such as China, Malaysia and Vietnam at their brothels as well as rented apartments and hostels for what is amortization higher profit margins when they get a cut from customers. In 2021, six Singaporeans protested for improved trans protections in the educational system outside the Ministry of Education headquarters at Buona Vista. Lee described this as a compromise between the conservative (and often religious) and progressive elements of Singaporean society to prevent further political fracturing.

Km, the country is home to a population of over 5 million residents. It represents part of a comprehensive water catchment system that spans two-thirds of the city’s area. The Marina Bay Reservoir, for instance, is a significant body of water located in the heart of the city. This region contains the Central Area, also called the city area, and is the country’s economic core. Singapore, an island city-state in Southeast Asia, lies off the southern edge of the Malay Peninsula and has a total area of about 734 km2 (281 mi2). A dense network of short streams drains the island, but floods are locally severe because the streams have low gradients and because of excessive water runoff from cleared land.