Republic of Singapore | |
---|---|
Motto: | |
Anthem: | |
Capital | Singapore 1°17′N 103°50′E / 1.283°N 103.833°ECoordinates: 1°17′N 103°50′E / 1.283°N 103.833°E |
Official languages | |
Malay | |
Ethnic groups | List of ethnicities |
Religion (2015) | List of religions |
Demonym(s) | Singaporean |
Government | Unitary dominant-party parliamentary constitutional republic |
Halimah Yacob | |
Lee Hsien Loong | |
Sundaresh Menon | |
• Acting Parliament Speaker | Jessica Tan |
Legislature | Parliament |
Independence from the United Kingdom and Malaysia | |
3 June 1959 | |
16 September 1963 | |
9 August 1965 | |
8 August 1967 | |
Area | |
• Total | Lua error in Module:Convert at line 1850: attempt to index local 'en_value' (a nil value). (176th) |
Population | |
• 2019 estimate | 5,703,600 (115th) |
• Density | Lua error in Module:Convert at line 1850: attempt to index local 'en_value' (a nil value). (2nd) |
GDP (PPP) | 2020 estimate |
• Total | $615.698 billion (36th) |
• Per capita | $107,604 (3rd) |
GDP (nominal) | 2020 estimate |
• Total | $391.875 billion (31st) |
• Per capita | $68,487 (7th) |
Gini (2017) | 45.9 medium |
HDI (2019) | 0.938 very high · 11th |
Currency | Singapore dollar (S$) (SGD) |
Time zone | UTC+8 (Singapore Standard Time) |
Date format | dd/mm/yyyy |
Mains electricity | 230 V–50 Hz |
Driving side | left |
Calling code | +65 |
ISO 3166 code | SG |
Internet TLD | .sg |
Website gov |
Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign country as well as a city-state. It is an island state at the southern end of the Malay Peninsula in Asia, between the Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea. Singapore is about one degree of latitude (137 kilometres or 85 mi) north of the equator. About 5.70 million people live in Singapore. About 3.31 million are citizens. Most of them are ethnically Chinese, Malay, or Indian, as well as a smaller number of other Asians and Europeans.
Present-day Singapore was founded in 1819 by Stamford Raffles as a trading post of the British Empire. During the Second World War, Singapore was taken over by Japan in 1942, but returned to British control after Japan surrendered in 1945. Singapore started to govern itself in 1959, and in 1963 became part of the new federation of Malaysia, together with Malaya, North Borneo, and Sarawak. Political and social differences led to Singapore being removed from the federation two years later, then becoming an independent country on its own.