Human rights in Singapore
Encyclopedia
According to U.S. Department of State Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, there have been no reports of human rights
abuses by security forces in Singapore
. The Singapore government maintains effective control over all security activities, and generally respects the human rights of its citizens. However, the government has broad powers to limit citizens' rights and to inhibit political opposition. In 2009, Singapore was ranked 133rd out of 175 nations by Reporters Without Borders
in the Worldwide Press Freedom Index. Government pressure to conform has resulted in the practice of self-censorship
by journalists.
The Ministry of Home Affairs Internal Security Department
enforces the country's Internal Security Act
(ISA) as a counter to potential espionage
, international terrorism
, threats to racial and religious harmony, and subversion. The ISA permits indefinite detention
without formal charges or recourse to trial, and has been used to imprison political opponents, including Chia Thye Poh
, who was held for 32 years without trial before being released. As of 2005, 36 men were being held under the ISA.
Caning
, applied in addition to imprisonment, is a routine punishment for numerous offences. Internment
without trial has been used to deal with espionage
, terrorism, organized crime
, and narcotics. Citizens’ privacy rights occasionally have been infringed. Singapore is against euthanasia
, and mercy killing is not legalized. Freedom in the World 2006
ranked Singapore 5 out of 7 for political freedom, and 4 out of 7 for civil liberties (where 1 is the most free), with an overall ranking of "partly free".
, one of the world's highest execution rates relative to its population. The government has contested Amnesty's claims, and denies that its use of the death penalty constitutes a violation of human rights.
In Singapore the death penalty
is mandatory for first-degree murder and for the possession of more than 15g of heroin in its pure form (dia-morphine), which is deemed to be evidence of trafficking. Amnesty International
, which opposes all capital punishment
on principle, notes that some 400 criminals were hanged between 1991 and 2003, for a population of 5 million. The government states that drug-trafficking is one of the most serious crimes, because Singapore is particularly vulnerable to the drug menace due to its small size and location near the Golden Triangle
. The government also states that Singapore does not mete out the death penalty lightly and uses it only in the most serious cases. The government claims that, as a result of its strict policies, Singapore has among the lowest prevalence of drug abuse across a range of hard and soft drugs.
and freedom of the press
and has limited other civil
and political rights. Censorship
of sexual, political and racially or religiously sensitive content is extensive.
According to Amnesty International
, in 2010 laws were tightened to limit the freedom of expression and assembly, and used to threaten critics and opposition activists. Lawsuits were taken out by the authorities against dissidents. Government critics and human rights defenders nevertheless held public gatherings.
A British journalist, Alan Shadrake, was arrested because of his book on executions in Singapore. He was convicted in November 2010 and sentenced to six weeks' imprisonment and a fine of S$20,000.
alternative to two-year military service
, which is compulsory for all males.
one quarter of Singapore's population were migrants at the end of 2009.
The Employment of Foreign Workers Act excludes domestic workers (2009). Singapore do not provide basic protection for foreign domestic workers, such as a standard number of working hours and rest days, minimum wage and access to employment benefits. The recruitment fees of domestic workers can be up to 40 % of the workers salary in a two-year contract.
Until end of 2010 Singapore government have refused to regulate the recruitment fees.
In 2010 two migrants from Burma, after 11 years' work in Singapore, did not receive new work permits, following their active support for Burma's pro-democracy movement
.
. Women are trafficked to Singapore for domestic work and commercial sexual exploitation.
in the form of severe caning on the bare buttocks
for numerous criminal offences if committed by males under 50, and this is a mandatory sentence for some 30 offences. Some international observers, including Amnesty International, maintain that corporal punishment is in itself contrary to human rights, but this is disputed. Caning is never ordered on its own in Singapore, only in combination with imprisonment. There is mandatory caning of at least three strokes, combined with a minimum of three months' imprisonment, for foreign workers who overstay by more than 3 months. The government argues that this is necessary to deter would-be immigration offenders, as Singapore remains an attractive destination for illegal immigrants; experience prior to 1989 had shown that imprisonment was not alone a sufficient deterrent. It feels that long-term overstayers who are not able to work legitimately pose social problems and may turn to crime.
Corporal punishment may also be ordered for various sexual offences, rioting, the possession of weapons, violence of all kinds, drug abuse, and vandalism of public property. Male members of the armed forces are liable to a less severe form of caning for breaches of military discipline.
, Singapore has signed the following international agreements relating to human rights:
As of 2010, Singapore has not signed the following agreements:
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
abuses by security forces in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
. The Singapore government maintains effective control over all security activities, and generally respects the human rights of its citizens. However, the government has broad powers to limit citizens' rights and to inhibit political opposition. In 2009, Singapore was ranked 133rd out of 175 nations by Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders is a France-based international non-governmental organization that advocates freedom of the press. It was founded in 1985, by Robert Ménard, Rony Brauman and the journalist Jean-Claude Guillebaud. Jean-François Julliard has served as Secretary General since 2008...
in the Worldwide Press Freedom Index. Government pressure to conform has resulted in the practice of self-censorship
Self-censorship
Self-censorship is the act of censoring or classifying one's own work , out of fear of, or deference to, the sensibilities of others, without overt pressure from any specific party or institution of authority...
by journalists.
The Ministry of Home Affairs Internal Security Department
Internal Security Department
The Internal Security Department is a domestic intelligence agency of the Ministry of Home Affairs of Singapore. It was formerly part of the Ministry of Interior and Defence until it was split on 11 August 1970...
enforces the country's Internal Security Act
Internal Security Act (Singapore)
The Internal Security Act of Singapore is a law that allows the Singapore government to investigate security threats like international terrorism, foreign subversion, espionage and acts of violence or hatred using race or religion...
(ISA) as a counter to potential espionage
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
, international terrorism
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
, threats to racial and religious harmony, and subversion. The ISA permits indefinite detention
Indefinite detention
Indefinite detention is the incarceration of an arrested person by a national government or law enforcement agency without a trial. It is a controversial practice on the part of any government or agency that is in violation of many national and international laws, including human rights laws...
without formal charges or recourse to trial, and has been used to imprison political opponents, including Chia Thye Poh
Chia Thye Poh
Chia Thye Poh was the longest-serving political prisoner in the history of Singapore and perhaps the longest-serving prisoner of conscience of the 20th century, if not one of its longest-serving political prisoners....
, who was held for 32 years without trial before being released. As of 2005, 36 men were being held under the ISA.
Caning
Caning in Singapore
Caning is a widely used form of legal corporal punishment in Singapore. It can be divided into several contexts: judicial, military, school, reformatory/prison, and domestic/private....
, applied in addition to imprisonment, is a routine punishment for numerous offences. Internment
Internment
Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people, commonly in large groups, without trial. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the meaning as: "The action of 'interning'; confinement within the limits of a country or place." Most modern usage is about individuals, and there is a distinction...
without trial has been used to deal with espionage
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
, terrorism, organized crime
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
, and narcotics. Citizens’ privacy rights occasionally have been infringed. Singapore is against euthanasia
Euthanasia
Euthanasia refers to the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering....
, and mercy killing is not legalized. Freedom in the World 2006
Freedom in the World 2006
Freedom in the World is a yearly survey and report by U.S.-based Freedom House that attempts to measure the degree of democracy and political freedom in every nation and significant disputed territories around the world.-Origin and use:...
ranked Singapore 5 out of 7 for political freedom, and 4 out of 7 for civil liberties (where 1 is the most free), with an overall ranking of "partly free".
Right to life, capital punishment
Singapore enforces the death penalty by hanging and has, according to Amnesty InternationalAmnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
, one of the world's highest execution rates relative to its population. The government has contested Amnesty's claims, and denies that its use of the death penalty constitutes a violation of human rights.
In Singapore the death penalty
Capital punishment in Singapore
Capital punishment is a legal form of punishment in Singapore. The city-state had the highest per-capita execution rate in the world between 1994 and 1999, estimated by the United Nations to be 1.357 executions per hundred thousand of population during that period. The next highest was Turkmenistan...
is mandatory for first-degree murder and for the possession of more than 15g of heroin in its pure form (dia-morphine), which is deemed to be evidence of trafficking. Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
, which opposes all capital punishment
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
on principle, notes that some 400 criminals were hanged between 1991 and 2003, for a population of 5 million. The government states that drug-trafficking is one of the most serious crimes, because Singapore is particularly vulnerable to the drug menace due to its small size and location near the Golden Triangle
Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia)
The Golden Triangle is one of Asia's two main illicit opium-producing areas. It is an area of around that overlaps the mountains of four countries of Southeast Asia: Burma, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. Along with Afghanistan in the Golden Crescent and Pakistan, it has been one of the most...
. The government also states that Singapore does not mete out the death penalty lightly and uses it only in the most serious cases. The government claims that, as a result of its strict policies, Singapore has among the lowest prevalence of drug abuse across a range of hard and soft drugs.
Freedom of expression and association
The government has restricted freedom of speechFreedom of speech
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
and freedom of the press
Freedom of the press
Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the freedom of communication and expression through vehicles including various electronic media and published materials...
and has limited other civil
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
and political rights. Censorship
Censorship in Singapore
Censorship in Singapore mainly targets sexual, political, racial and religious issues, as defined by out-of-bounds markers.-Implementation:The Media Development Authority approves publications, issues arts entertainment licences and enforces the Free-to-air TV Programme Code, Cable TV Programme...
of sexual, political and racially or religiously sensitive content is extensive.
According to Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
, in 2010 laws were tightened to limit the freedom of expression and assembly, and used to threaten critics and opposition activists. Lawsuits were taken out by the authorities against dissidents. Government critics and human rights defenders nevertheless held public gatherings.
A British journalist, Alan Shadrake, was arrested because of his book on executions in Singapore. He was convicted in November 2010 and sentenced to six weeks' imprisonment and a fine of S$20,000.
Military service and civilian service
Singapore does not offer a civilian serviceCivilian service
Civilian service is service to a government made as a civilian, particularly such service as an option for conscripted persons who are conscientious objectors and object to military service...
alternative to two-year military service
National Service in Singapore
Conscription in Singapore, called National Service , requires all male Singaporean citizens and second-generation permanent residents who have reached the age of 18 to enrol in the military...
, which is compulsory for all males.
Homosexuality
Singapore law dating from 1938 (Penal Code, s. 377A) bans sexual relations between men, but no prosecutions for private sexual activity have taken place since 1999. Since May 2009 rally at Speaker's Corner, gay rights supporters have participated in the annual Pink Dot SG rally at the Speakers’ Corner, Hong Lim Park without government interference.. The 2009 event was deemed significant enough to be included in the U.S. Department of State's human rights reports for 2009, released on 11 March 2010:Migrant workers
According to Amnesty InternationalAmnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
one quarter of Singapore's population were migrants at the end of 2009.
The Employment of Foreign Workers Act excludes domestic workers (2009). Singapore do not provide basic protection for foreign domestic workers, such as a standard number of working hours and rest days, minimum wage and access to employment benefits. The recruitment fees of domestic workers can be up to 40 % of the workers salary in a two-year contract.
Until end of 2010 Singapore government have refused to regulate the recruitment fees.
In 2010 two migrants from Burma, after 11 years' work in Singapore, did not receive new work permits, following their active support for Burma's pro-democracy movement
National League for Democracy
The National League for Democracy is a Burmese political party founded on 27 September 1988. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi serves as its General Secretary. The party won a substantial parliamentary majority in the 1990 Burmese general election. However, the ruling military junta...
.
Human trafficking
The US Trafficking in Persons 2009 report listed Singapore on Tier 2: countries not doing enough to address human traffickingHuman trafficking
Human trafficking is the illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of reproductive slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, forced labor, or a modern-day form of slavery...
. Women are trafficked to Singapore for domestic work and commercial sexual exploitation.
Corporal punishment
Singapore also employs corporal punishmentJudicial corporal punishment
Judicial corporal punishment refers to the infliction of corporal punishment as a result of a sentence by a court of law. The punishment can be flogging, caning, birching, whipping, or strapping...
in the form of severe caning on the bare buttocks
Caning in Singapore
Caning is a widely used form of legal corporal punishment in Singapore. It can be divided into several contexts: judicial, military, school, reformatory/prison, and domestic/private....
for numerous criminal offences if committed by males under 50, and this is a mandatory sentence for some 30 offences. Some international observers, including Amnesty International, maintain that corporal punishment is in itself contrary to human rights, but this is disputed. Caning is never ordered on its own in Singapore, only in combination with imprisonment. There is mandatory caning of at least three strokes, combined with a minimum of three months' imprisonment, for foreign workers who overstay by more than 3 months. The government argues that this is necessary to deter would-be immigration offenders, as Singapore remains an attractive destination for illegal immigrants; experience prior to 1989 had shown that imprisonment was not alone a sufficient deterrent. It feels that long-term overstayers who are not able to work legitimately pose social problems and may turn to crime.
Corporal punishment may also be ordered for various sexual offences, rioting, the possession of weapons, violence of all kinds, drug abuse, and vandalism of public property. Male members of the armed forces are liable to a less severe form of caning for breaches of military discipline.
International agreements
According to Amnesty InternationalAmnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
, Singapore has signed the following international agreements relating to human rights:
- Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against WomenConvention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against WomenThe Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women is an international convention adopted in 1979 by the United Nations General Assembly....
(CEDAW) - Convention on the Rights of the ChildConvention on the Rights of the ChildThe United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is a human rights treaty setting out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children...
(CRC) - Optional Protocol to the CRC on the involvement of children in armed conflict in 2008
As of 2010, Singapore has not signed the following agreements:
- International Covenant on Civil and Political RightsInternational Covenant on Civil and Political RightsThe International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is a multilateral treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 16, 1966, and in force from March 23, 1976...
(ICCPR) - Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR, aiming at the abolition of the death penaltyCapital punishmentCapital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
- International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CEDAW)
- International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial DiscriminationConvention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial DiscriminationThe International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination is a United Nations convention. A second-generation human rights instrument, the Convention commits its members to the elimination of racial discrimination and the promotion of understanding among all races...
- Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
- Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (1951)
- Convention Relating to the Status of RefugeesConvention Relating to the Status of RefugeesThe United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees is an international convention that defines who is a refugee, and sets out the rights of individuals who are granted asylum and the responsibilities of nations that grant asylum. The Convention also sets out which people do not...
(1967) - Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (1954)
- Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness1961 Convention on the Reduction of StatelessnessThe Convention was originally intended as a Protocol to the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, while the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons was adopted to cover stateless persons who are not refugees and therefore not within the scope of the Convention Relating...
(1961) - Rome Statute of the International Criminal CourtRome Statute of the International Criminal CourtThe Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court is the treaty that established the International Criminal Court . It was adopted at a diplomatic conference in Rome on 17 July 1998 and it entered into force on 1 July 2002. As of 13 October 2011, 119 states are party to the statute...
International rankings
| International rankings of Singapore Singapore Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the... |
Political Rankings | |
|---|---|---|
| Organization | Survey | Ranking |
| Freedom House Freedom House Freedom House is an international non-governmental organization based in Washington, D.C. that conducts research and advocacy on democracy, political freedom and human rights... |
Civil and political liberties | Partly Free |
| Freedom House Freedom House Freedom House is an international non-governmental organization based in Washington, D.C. that conducts research and advocacy on democracy, political freedom and human rights... |
Press freedom Freedom of the Press (report) Freedom of the Press is a yearly report by US-based non-governmental organization Freedom House, measuring the level of freedom and editorial independence enjoyed by the press in every nation and significant disputed territories around the world. Levels of freedom are scored on a scale from 1 to 100... |
Not Free |
| Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders is a France-based international non-governmental organization that advocates freedom of the press. It was founded in 1985, by Robert Ménard, Rony Brauman and the journalist Jean-Claude Guillebaud. Jean-François Julliard has served as Secretary General since 2008... |
Press freedom Press Freedom Index The Press Freedom Index is an annual ranking of countries compiled and published by Reporters Without Borders based upon the organization's assessment of their press freedom records. Small countries, such as Andorra, are excluded from this report... |
133rd out of 175 |
| The Economist The Economist The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843... |
Level of democracy Democracy Index The Democracy Index is an index compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit that claims to measure the state of democracy in 167 countries, of which 166 are sovereign states and 165 are UN member states... |
82nd out of 167 (Hybrid regime) |
| Transparency International Transparency International Transparency International is a non-governmental organization that monitors and publicizes corporate and political corruption in international development. It publishes an annual Corruption Perceptions Index, a comparative listing of corruption worldwide... |
Perceived level of corruption Corruption Perceptions Index Since 1995, Transparency International publishes the Corruption Perceptions Index annually ranking countries "by their perceived levels of corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys." The CPI generally defines corruption as "the misuse of public power for private... |
1st out of 180 |
| Privacy International Privacy International Privacy International is a UK-based non-profit organisation formed in 1990, "as a watchdog on surveillance and privacy invasions by governments and corporations." PI has organised campaigns and initiatives in more than fifty countries and is based in London, UK.-Formation, background and... and Electronic Privacy Information Center Electronic Privacy Information Center Electronic Privacy Information Center is a public interest research group in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1994 to focus public attention on emerging civil liberties issues and to protect privacy, the First Amendment, and constitutional values in the information age... |
Privacy from corporative and government surveillance Privacy International Privacy International is a UK-based non-profit organisation formed in 1990, "as a watchdog on surveillance and privacy invasions by governments and corporations." PI has organised campaigns and initiatives in more than fifty countries and is based in London, UK.-Formation, background and... |
"Endemic surveillance society" status |
| Economic Rankings | ||
| Organization | Survey | Ranking |
| International Monetary Fund International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world... |
GDP (nominal) per capita | 23rd out of 180 |
| International Monetary Fund International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world... |
GDP (PPP) per capita | 5th out of 181 |
| International Monetary Fund International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world... |
Amount of foreign exchange reserves | 9th out of 156 |
| United Nations United Nations The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace... |
GINI coefficient | Gini Coefficient of 42.5 (High income inequality country) |
| World Bank World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty... |
Ease of Doing Business Ease of Doing Business Index The Ease of Doing Business Index is an index created by the World Bank. Higher rankings indicate better, usually simpler, regulations for businesses and stronger protections of property rights... |
1st out of 183 |
| World Economic Forum World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum is a Swiss non-profit foundation, based in Cologny, Geneva, best known for its annual meeting in Davos, a mountain resort in Graubünden, in the eastern Alps region of Switzerland.... |
Ease of conducting Trade Global Enabling Trade Report The Global Enabling Trade Report was first published in 2008 by the World Economic Forum.The 2008 report covers 118 major and emerging economies... |
1st out of 118 |
| World Economic Forum World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum is a Swiss non-profit foundation, based in Cologny, Geneva, best known for its annual meeting in Davos, a mountain resort in Graubünden, in the eastern Alps region of Switzerland.... |
Global Competitiveness Global Competitiveness Report The Global Competitiveness Report is a yearly report published by the World Economic Forum. The first report was released in 1979. The 2011–2012 report covers 142 major and emerging economies.... |
3rd out of 133 |
| Social Rankings | ||
| United Nations United Nations The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace... |
Human Development Index Human Development Index The Human Development Index is a composite statistic used to rank countries by level of "human development" and separate "very high human development", "high human development", "medium human development", and "low human development" countries... |
23rd in the world ("Developed country" status) |
| The Economist The Economist The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843... |
Quality of life Quality-of-life index The Economist Intelligence Unit’s quality-of-life index is based on a unique methodology that links the results of subjective life-satisfaction surveys to the objective determinants of quality of life across countries... |
11th out of 111 |
| United Nations United Nations The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace... |
Population density | 3rd out of 239 |
| The Economist The Economist The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843... |
Cost of Living | 11th out of 111 |
| United Nations United Nations The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace... |
Number of immigrants | 7th out of 192 (42.6% of Singapore's population are foreigners) |
| International Energy Agency International Energy Agency The International Energy Agency is a Paris-based autonomous intergovernmental organization established in the framework of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in 1974 in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis... |
Carbon dioxide emissions per capita | 23rd out of 210 |
| Center for Strategic and International Studies Center for Strategic and International Studies The Center for Strategic and International Studies is a bipartisan Washington, D.C., foreign policy think tank. The center was founded in 1962 by Admiral Arleigh Burke and Ambassador David Manker Abshire, originally as part of Georgetown University... |
Number of troops | 62nd out of 166 |
| United Nations United Nations The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace... |
Fertility rate | 221st out of 223 |
See also
- Caning in SingaporeCaning in SingaporeCaning is a widely used form of legal corporal punishment in Singapore. It can be divided into several contexts: judicial, military, school, reformatory/prison, and domestic/private....
- Capital punishment in SingaporeCapital punishment in SingaporeCapital punishment is a legal form of punishment in Singapore. The city-state had the highest per-capita execution rate in the world between 1994 and 1999, estimated by the United Nations to be 1.357 executions per hundred thousand of population during that period. The next highest was Turkmenistan...
- Censorship in SingaporeCensorship in SingaporeCensorship in Singapore mainly targets sexual, political, racial and religious issues, as defined by out-of-bounds markers.-Implementation:The Media Development Authority approves publications, issues arts entertainment licences and enforces the Free-to-air TV Programme Code, Cable TV Programme...
- Internal Security Act (Singapore)Internal Security Act (Singapore)The Internal Security Act of Singapore is a law that allows the Singapore government to investigate security threats like international terrorism, foreign subversion, espionage and acts of violence or hatred using race or religion...
- LGBT rights in Singapore
- Public demonstrations in SingaporePublic demonstrations in SingaporePublic demonstrations are rare in Singapore due to laws that make it illegal to hold cause-related events without a valid licence from the authorities...
- Human rights in Burma