Comparing Singapore & Hong Kong

Comparing Singapore & Hong Kong

Singapore & Hong Kong

• Area
• Singapore: 697 km2
• Hong Kong: 1,108 km2
• Population
• Singapore: 6 million
• annual growth 1.8%
• Hong Kong: 7 million
• annual growth 0.3%

	Singapore	Hong Kong
Age 65 and older	10%	17%
Median age	35	44
Net migration rate	1.3%	0.2%
Total fertility rate	0.83 child	1.19 children
Infant mortality rate	0.2%	0.3%
Life expectancy	85	83
School life expectancy	13 years	16 years

Singapore and Hong Kong

• Each is separated from the mainland by a narrow waterway
• Singapore’s relationship with Malaysia has been volatile
• brief merge in 1963-1965
• disputes about water delivery, islands, etc.
• Hong Kong benefits from mainland China’s cheap labor and market

Singapore and Hong Kong

• Both are mostly ethnic Chinese societies
• Singapore: 74%
• Hong Kong: 92%
• both had over 100 years of British rule
• Singapore: 1819 - 1959
• Hong Kong: 1841 - 1997
• both were occupied by Japan
• 1942 - 1945

GDP (purchasing power parity)

• Singapore:
• US$0.5 trillion ($0.3 trillion)
• Ranked 38th in the world
• per capita 7th in the world
• Hong Kong:
• US$0.5 trillion ($0.3 trillion)
• Ranked 43rd in the world
• per capita 17th in the world

Singapore and Hong Kong

• Both are newly industrialized economies
• GDP composition:
• Sector Singapore Hong Kong
• agriculture 0% 0%
• industry 25% 7%
• service 75% 93%

Singapore and Hong Kong

• Exports:
• Singapore: 13th in the world
• Hong Kong: 9th in the world
• 54% to mainland China
• Imports:
• Singapore: 16th in the world
• Hong Kong: 8th in the world
• 45% from mainland China

Exports of G.&S. (% of GDP)

Economic development

• Singapore and Hong Kong
• have achieved similar economic success
• through very different economic approaches
• path of economic development diverged after World War II
• similar experience under British colonial rule
• divergent political development after WWII
• divergent economic models after 1960s

Colonial legacies

• Both became entry ports to mainland
• both benefited from British management and technological expertise
• both attracted inflow of Chinese emigrants
• Chinese population in Singapore doubled in 1820s
• Chinese population in Hong Kong quadrupled between the two World Wars

Divergent paths after WWII

• Singapore gained independence (1959)
• Lee Kuan Yew’s People’s Action Party
• economy grew at a slow pace in 1950s
• still based on intermediary trade
• boosted by the Korean War of 1950 - 1953