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Friday, July 23, 2010 By

Gini coefficient: Income gap in Singapore and elsewhere

Singapore has the second highest income gap between the rich and the poor, as indicated by the Gini coefficient, among the 38 countries with very high human development, according to the 2009 United Nations Development Report. Only Hong Kong has a higher income gap. See the table on this web page. You can also build your own tables using various economic indicators by going to the statistics page and you can read the report here.

The UN report says: The Gini index lies between 0 and 100. A value of 0 represents absolute equality and 100 absolute inequality.

Singapore, according to the 2009 UN report, had a Gini coefficient of 42.5, exceeded only by Hong Kong (43.4) among the countries with very high human development.

Here we compare Singapore's Gini coefficient with the figures for the rest of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asean Nations (Asean) and other countries with which it has close links. The figure tends to be lower in European countries, as this chart shows. All the figures are from the UN report.

Gini-coefficient

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Filed Under: Singapore Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Thursday, April 8, 2010 By

Singapore lagged behind East Asia as a whole

The Singapore economy lagged behind East Asia as a whole at the end of last year. Taiwan, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia all grew more than Singapore in the fourth quarter. And so, of course, did China. Only Hong Kong and the Philippines posted weaker growth. This chart is based on the World Bank report released this week.

WorldBank-Real-GDP-Growth2

Download the report from the World Bank to see how the Asian economies performed against one another in various ways. See how the Singapore foreign reserves, stock market and exports compare with the other Asian economies.

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Wednesday, February 3, 2010 By

Bamboo network around China: Samuel Huntington

Professor Tommy Koh in the Straits Times today noted a difference between Singapore's Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and his former deputy, the late S. Rajaratnam, the country's first foreign minister.

Raja, as he was known, "saw himself simply as a Singaporean and not as a Ceylonese Singaporean or an Indian Singaporean." wrote Prof Koh. "Minister Mentor Lee, on the other hand, saw himself first as a Singaporean, and second, as an ethnic Chinese proud of his cultural roots."

This sense of ethnic and cultural identity, and how it is reshaping the world, is the theme of Samuel Huntington's book, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. Published in 1996, after the fall of Soviet communism, the book looks at the growing importance of race and religion in international affairs.

This lies behind the rise of China, according to Huntington. It has become an economic giant with generous help from overseas Chinese investors. He quoted Minister Mentor Lee on how they were drawn together by their common culture and ancestry.

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Filed Under: Books, Singapore, World Today Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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