Current economy

Singapore is a high-income economy with a gross national income of US$70,810 per capita, as of 2023.

In the decades after independence, Singapore rapidly developed from a low-income country to a high-income country. GDP growth in the city-state has been among the world’s highest, at an average of about 7% since independence and topping 9.2% in the first 25 years.

After rapid industrialization in the 1960s catapulted the island nation’s development trajectory, manufacturing became the main driver of growth. In the early 1970s, Singapore reached full employment and joined the ranks of Hong Kong SAR, Republic of Korea, and Taiwan, China, a decade later as Asia’s newly industrializing economies. The manufacturing and services sectors remain the twin pillars of Singapore’s high value-added economy.