SINGAPORE IMPRESSIONS

Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is a leading global city-state and island country in Southeast Asia. It lies off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, one degree (137 km) north of the equator, separated from Peninsular Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to the north, and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the Singapore Strait to the south. Singapore's territory consists of the diamond-shaped main island and 62 islets. It is highly urbanised with land reclamation expanding its size significantly since independence.

Singapore is one of the world's major commercial hubs, the fourth-largest financial centre and one of the top two busiest container ports in the world for at least the past ten years. Its globalised and diversified economy depends heavily on trade, especially manufacturing, which accounted for around 30 percent of Singapore's GDP in 2013. Singapore places highly in international rankings with regard to standard of living, education, healthcare, and economic competitiveness. Singapore has one of the highest per capita incomes. For the past decade, it has been the only Asian country with the top AAA rating from all three major credit rating agencies.

About 5.5 million people live in Singapore (as of end-June 2014), 3.4 million of whom are citizens and the remaining 2.1 million are foreign nationals. As an immigrant country with numerous links to the global economy, Singapore is one of the most globalised countries in the world. Singapore is an ethnically diverse country, where ethnic Chinese Singaporeans predominate with about 74.1% of the resident population, followed by significant minorities of Malays (13.4%), Indians (9.2%), and Eurasians. There are four official languages: English, Malay, Mandarin, and Tamil. English is the common language of the country. Singapore promotes multiculturalism through a range of policies.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Trees & Bushes meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.