Singapore (1965): a new system that brought prosperity

• The wave: Western manufacturers moving factories offshore.

• What was new: a state built to win foreign factories (Economic Development Board), compulsory savings (CPF), and public housing on state-owned land.

• How it united people: English as the shared working language; mixed public housing for every community.

• Result: GDP per person went from about $516 in 1965 to about $107,760 in 2026.

• Wikipedia: Economy of Singapore

How it stood up government on day one

Singapore was pushed out of Malaysia and had to become a country overnight. It had no army, no hinterland and 10 to 12% unemployment. It focused on jobs, homes and defence first. History of the Republic of Singapore

Why it matters: a state that had to exist overnight put jobs, homes and defence first.

• Day one: independence on 9 August 1965.
• Foreign affairs: joined the UN on 21 September 1965, six weeks later, with help from Malaysia, the Republic of China and India. Joined the Commonwealth in October 1965.
• Defence: national service from 1967. Men at 18 train full time for about two and a half years, then serve as reservists. Singapore used advisers from Israel and West Germany. British forces left in September 1971.
• Jobs: the Economic Development Board, set up in 1961 before independence, built industrial estates at Jurong and gave investors 5 to 10 year tax holidays. Unemployment fell to about 3% in the 1980s.
• Housing: the Housing Development Board built 25,000 flats in its first two years. Within a decade most people lived in its flats. From 1968 people could use their pension savings (CPF) to buy them.
• Language: English became the language of all schools, to serve foreign employers and partners.
• Results: real growth averaged about 8% a year from the 1980s to 1999.