Money slap: 1 in 50 Singaporeans a millionaire

The city is definitely Asia’s wealth hub.

We are only ever a stone’s throw from the affluent, especially in the smallness of Singapore where everyone rubs elbows with everyone.

A research conducted by SPEARS’s magazine and wealth consultancy company WealthInsight reveals that Singapore is the Asian country with the highest percentage of millionaires, with over one in every 50 (2.8%) in the city classed as a millionaire. Ranked eighth in the world, Singapore is ahead of other wealthy global cities such as Hong Kong, Paris, Venice, Toronto and San Francisco in terms of millionaire density.

WealthInsight analyst Oliver Williams says that Singapore is an attractive coastal city boasting a high standard of living and easy access to all the needs of the wealthy, notably private banks and wealth advisors, making the city more appealing among the newly wealthy families of China, India, Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia.

Here’s more from the research:

“While Singapore has long been viewed as a financial centre of Asia, it has an additional appeal to wealthy families in the form of education says Williams: “Singapore is fast becoming Asia’s education hub as more and more international students enroll at its five public and more than fifteen private universities,” Williams adds.

Sunday Times and Condé Nast journalist, John Arlidge, adds: "In the race to attract the global super-rich, Singapore has some big hardware advantages. It is close to booming China but not too close for comfort, like Hong Kong. It has a stable government of the no-nonsense, laissez-faire kind investors like. More people speak English than in Hong Kong. Schools and healthcare are world class. Yale has a campus. Taxes are very low. It does not suffer the pollution that Hong Kong endures. On virtually every level you care to think of, Singapore is the easiest entry point to booming Asia."