| Singapore has a very impressive GDP per capita, but it is massively skewed by external investment (with money that often flows straight back out of the country again), construction and being a major regional hub. To say Singapore has a higher GDP than any Western country isn't quite a fair comparison.
For contrast, the GDP per capita in London (pop 8.5M) which benefits similarly form being a regional hub has a GDP per capita of $73k [1] vs about $55k in Singapore (pop 5.4M) [2]. For a different picture try looking at a figure that looks at household wealth, e.g. household final consumption per capital. These numbers are less skewed by external investment and look at the real purchasing power of average people. On these figures (US$) taken from: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NE.CON.PRVT.PC.KD Singapore: $12,355
Switzerland $33,284
USA: $31,469
UK: $25,828
Germany: $21,769 By this metric Singapore is far behind most Western economies and is in the same basket as Spain, Greece, Slovenia, Portugal. Don't get me wrong, the progress that has been made in Singapore is amazing. I just think it is far too easy to be dazzled by high GDP figures, and miss out on the bigger picture. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_metropolitan_areas_in_...
[2] http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD |
Thanks for showing me the numbers in a different light. Updated.
>I just think it is far too easy to be dazzled by high GDP figures, and miss out on the bigger picture.
This is true, but then again, part of the bigger picture is the country is run by very visibly smart and competent people.