Quality of Life in Singapore, Singapore

Cost for owning a property is very high. It's even higher for foreigners as they must pay additional taxes. Owning a car is also extremely expensive and ownership is limited to 10 years renewable once for 5 years.

Food in restaurant ranges from cheap to overpriced. Groceries in supermarket is usually more expensive than bought on the markets and difference of price for a same product can be high depending where it is bought. Meat and vegetables are usually imported. Eggs and some transformed products are produced locally.

Public transportation is relatively cheap, especially compared to the price of owning a car. Bus and train tickets are subsidized.

Branded clothes, household appliance, IT products are in average 50 to 100% more expensive than in Europe. Sometimes more. Seldom cheaper.

Average and median salary (for local employees) is slightly higher than the equivalent in Europe but social protection (health insurance, unemployment, retirement) is scarce: Singaporean and permanent resident (PR) are entitled to basic pension and health protection capped to their own contribution. Non-PR foreigners have to rely to private insurance.

Public education system is very good and sets very high standards. Public education is virtually free for Singaporeans but can be expensive for foreigners. University, however, is not free.

The health system is very developed with a high number of hospitals and clinics scattered around the city. Skills of staff and equipment is among the best in the world although medical examination is sometimes not thorough. Singapore is however one the country where some people may have to think twice about their finance before they may undergo some medical procedures.

Pollution levels are very acceptable. Except for the seasonal haze episodes coming from Indonesia that can sometimes be harmful, overall air and water pollution is low. Noise pollution can be a bit high in some areas located near the main roads and highways though. Cleanliness is decent but the city is not overly clean as often misconceived. Public transportation and central areas are usually very clean as well as open spaces and industrial estates. But some residential estates can sometimes be dirty. More due to the lack of respect of some inhabitants than the lack of facilities or maintenance.

The city is very green. With several parks all across the city and trees, plants, grass and other greens virtually everywhere it can fit (including sidewalks, on bridges and even buildings). It's sometimes hard to believe one stand in a city when lost in the middle of the trees even in the central area. For me it plays a lot in contributing to a very high quality of living.

Commuting time is decent enough. Some people may need more than 1 hours to reach their workplace though. Public transportation is relatively inexpensive for a developed country. Taxi is also relatively cheap although prices increased a couple of years ago and peak hours surcharges has been extended to some odd timing (11 PM on a Sunday, hello?). There are lots of bus lines and the number of train lines increases slowly. The network is however not extremely dense. It may be explained because the city is not very densely populated (very high density for a country, average density for a city). There could be a higher offer regarding express bus lines. Some areas geographically close can sometimes take a lot of times to be joined by public transportation. But overall, the service is correct and reliable.

Well, it is pretty good except that it has crazy property prices, no freedom of speech, press and no porn.... And gum and electric cigarettes. Cars are the most expensive in the world too. If you don't need cars, like to rent instead of owning, don't eat gum, don't like porn and like hot and humid weather, I Guess Singapore is great

what is the least paid job in Singapore or what is the minimum salary rate in Singapore?