Thoughts from a visit to the solarpunk city.

The first thing that really strikes you about Singapore is how incredibly rich it is.

Measured by GDP per capita at purchasing power parity, Singapore is the third-richest country in the world, behind only Ireland and Luxembourg (whose numbers are distorted by their tax haven status), and about 65% richer than the United States. Singapore’s numbers may also be inflated to some degree, because some non-permanent foreign workers are apparently not counted in the denominator — interestingly, neither government workers nor businesspeople I talked to seemed to know exactly which categories of people were included in the calculation. The Singaporean government counts “non-residents” at about 30% of the population; if none of those are counted...

Thoughts from a visit to the solarpunk city.

The first thing that really strikes you about Singapore is how incredibly rich it is.

Measured by GDP per capita at purchasing power parity, Singapore is the third-richest country in the world, behind only Ireland and Luxembourg (whose numbers are distorted by their tax haven status), and about 65% richer than the United States. Singapore’s numbers may also be inflated to some degree, because some non-permanent foreign workers are apparently not counted in the denominator — interestingly, neither government workers nor businesspeople I talked to seemed to know exactly which categories of people were included in the calculation. The Singaporean government counts “non-residents” at about 30% of the population; if none of those are counted in the denominator of per capita statistics, it would mean Singapore’s true per capita GDP (PPP) is more like $93,000. That would still make it slightly richer than the U.S., and among the very highest-income countries on the planet. (Update: The Singaporean government has assured me that non-residents are counted in the denominator, meaning Singapore really is as rich as the headline numbers indicate.)

And you can really feel it, as soon as you step off the plane...