11/17/2005

how rich are singaporeans?

according to the statistics dept, there are about 3.5 million residents in the island, ie citizens and prs. a guess, our population for citizens may not be more than 3 million. this will give an adult population of maybe 2 million ie above 21. if we divide our reserves of $200 billion it will mean that we have $100,000 for each adult singaporean in the reserve alone. and if each poor household is still owning an asset worth of $100,000 plus another $50,000 est in the cpf, i think on a per capita basis, singaporeans must be one of the richest people in the world. given that, it is unthinkable and perplexing to see so many singaporeans in financial difficulties. is it because of our wrong policies in the allocation of wealth or the management of the wealth of the citizens? why are singaporeans not able to live more comfortably like the rich nations in europe? with the wealth that we have saved, how can we account for 200,000 families looking for state assistance. where is the problem?

1 comment:

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

i stand corrected on the 200,000 families figure. i thought i read it somewhere in the newspaper.