Singapore
Singapore: strong, sustained growth, 1980–2025
A small, trade-dependent city-state with almost no natural resources, Singapore built one of the world's richest economies through open trade, financial-services development, and consistently pragmatic governance since independence in 1965. Between 1980 and 2025, Singapore's GDP per capita grew from $4,928 to $98,814 (current US$), a compound annual growth rate of 6.9% — strong, sustained growth. Annual GDP growth averaged 6.0% with a year-to-year standard deviation of 4.0 points, reflecting considerable volatility and periodic crises. Structurally, agriculture's share of the economy moved from 1.5% to 0.0% of GDP (a classic decline as the economy industrialized/modernized), while services rose from 59.9% to 71.6% of GDP, underscoring a shift toward a services-driven economy. On human development, life expectancy rose from 72.2 to 83.3 years, while tertiary school enrollment moved from 93.3% to 97.3%, while the urban population share grew from 100.0% to 100.0%.
What this growth cost: Growth was not without cost: per-capita CO2 emissions rose from 6.31 to 9.75 tonnes CO2e per person.
What it trades
Top exported and imported products, approximate share of total trade value.
Top exports
Top imports
Events shaping this economy
Central bank perspective
Why the charts below look the way they do, drawing on the country’s own central bank and monetary authority.