Interesting Facts About Singapore
Singapore is a country in South East Asia comprised of 63 islands and can be found off the southern coast of the Malay Peninsula. It is home to over 5 million people with around 300,000 of those being Singapore citizens. The capital city of the country is also known as Singapore. It has a total land area of 268 sq mi (694km2) and more land is being claimed for urbanization through land reclamation. It is a thriving tourist destination with approximately 11 million people coming and going during the year.
Interesting facts about Singapore
- The official name of the country is the Republic of Singapore. It is part of the Commonwealth of Nations.
- Singapore is one of the Four Asian Tigers- a group of four Asian countries (Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan) who have highly developed sustainable economies.
- Singapore is considered to be the easiest place in the world to do business and is one of the world’s leading financial centers. It is also home to the busiest trans-shipment port in the world.
- The four official languages of Singapore are English, Malay, Mandarin (Chinese) and Tamil. Most Singaporeans speak English well and all business and legal transactions are carried out in English.
- Singapore means “Lion City” in Malay Singapura and was named this by the founder of ancient Singapore Sang Nila Utama.
- Singapore is a parliamentary republic with a prime minister and a president.
- The main island of Singapore is known as Singapore Island. This island is connected to Johor, Malaysia by a causeway and a bridge.
- The largest of the small islands of Singapore are Jurong Island, Pulau Tekong, Pulau Ubin and Sentosa. Most of the other smaller islands are uninhabited.
- Singapore is one of the smallest countries in the world, but is the second most densely populated country after Monaco.
- The highest point in Singapore is Bukit Timah Hill at 545 ft (166 m).
- The highest manmade waterfall is found in Singapore in the Jurong Bird Park of Singapore.
- Singapore has a tropical climate due to its proximity to the equator. The temperature and humidity levels do not fluctuate much and the country receives rainfall all year round. The average temperature in Singapore during the summer months is 31 °C (88 °F) and the average during the winter months is 24 °C (76 °F). Singapore experiences monsoonal rains from November to January and has an average humidity of approximately 79%. It experiences its hottest weather in April and May.
- The currency of Singapore is the Singapore Dollar.
- Singapore is developing it reputation as a medical tourism hub with an astounding 200,000 foreigners traveling to Singapore for medical procedures. The country is aiming to increase this number to 1 million by 2012.
- Singapore has a low unemployment rate with only 1.9% of people being unemployed.
- The most practiced religion in Singapore is Buddhism with 33% of the population being Buddhist. 18% are Christian, 17% Muslim, 11% Taoism and 5% Hindu.
- Many sports are popular in Singapore including soccer, basketball, swimming, cricket, sailing, table tennis and badminton. Singapore has a national soccer league made up of 12 clubs. They also host a formula one circuit, the Marina Bay Street Circuit, which is the only night race on the Formula one circuit.
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