Politics & Society
Singapore ranked 5th most expensive in Asia, 13th worldwide
Singapore is ranked 5th in Asia, after Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, and Osaka in the Mercer 2008 Cost of Living survey.
I would rather choose to live in Seoul, Tokyo or Osaka than Singapore or Hong Kong, as my impression of these cities are that they are much more comfortable places to live in (I can’t say the same about the stress levels in Japan and Korea, though) and thus worth the slightly higher costs, as compared to Singaproe.
In worldwide rankings, Singapore is ranked 13th, after the above Asian cities, as well as Moscow, with European cities as the others above Singapore.
When high costs of living != high quality of living
Despite the high costs and stress levels of being Singaporeans, we don’t appear to have as high quality of living as people from other cities at the top of the cost of living list. We ranked 32nd worldwide in the 2008 Mercer survey on Quality of Living, while most of the European cities that ranked higher than Singapore in cost of living were well above us in this aspect.
In short, as Singaporeans, we are not getting bang for our buck, as well as the requirement that we have (preferably unquestioning) faith in, and obedience to the uniquely Singapore system of governance.
It must be noted, however, that the study was on ‘expatriate’ cost of living - so it most probably did not factor in government handouts and other benefits. The reason for Singapore being so way high up is probably attributable to costs of private housing, since expatriates are not entitled to subsidized housing.
But I am sure people would agree with me that besides housing, there are so many other things in Singapore that make it an expensive place to live in (i.e. electricity, water bills, rising costs of everything, etc).
Surprisingly, Vancouver (yes, I’m not attempting to hide my love for this city) ranked 64th - way down the list compared to Singapore, but in terms of quality of living it ranked 4th worldwide. Now, that’s what I call bang for buck!
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Please see recent article in http://www.todayonline.com.sg
http://www.todayonline.com/articles/268272.asp
This article shows that motor insurance premiums are going up and that is nothing new.
However initially, General Insurance Association of Singapore mooted and started a procedure to prevent owners involving in motor accidents from engaging lawyers to claim in an effort to cut down claim costs and so they allege. So even when they cut off lawyers from the scene, their claim costs are still high and they now want more money.
Seems like insurance companies want the cake and eat it - prevent lawyers from getting accident claim files and insurance companies increase their premiums to get more money into their kitty.
Anything we can do as Singaporeans - no! Hahahah
Sad and now unemployment is up - yet someone is saying, Singapore economy is still fine and we can survive - may I ask who is WE?