How a Tiny Island With No Oil Got Richer Than America

In 1965, Singapore was thrown out of Malaysia. It had no oil, no farmland and not even enough water of its own. Adjusted for prices, the average Singaporean produced $4,215 a year, and the average American 5.3 times as much. In 2025, the average Singaporean produced $70.7 thousand, and the average American $67.9 thousand. The island did the opposite of most new countries. It invited foreign companies in, made its rules predictable and its officials hard to bribe, and made its people save: in 2010, Singapore saved 50.6% of everything it produced. Those savings built homes, ports and factories, and the economy kept climbing, from clothing to chips to finance. Jamaica, another former British colony, started at almost the same level in 1966. In 2025, the average Singaporean produced 11.6 times as much as the average Jamaican. The success has a price: tight political control, a high cost of living, a heavy reliance on foreign workers, and 0.97 children per woman in 2024. Every number in this video comes from the World Bank. Chapters: 0:00 Kicked out 1:18 An island with nothing 2:04 Bring the world in 3:25 Rules people trust 4:14 Save, build, own 5:17 Climbing the ladder 6:09 The Jamaica test 7:15 The price of success 8:26 What it means Data sources: The World Bank: Foreign direct investment, net inflows (% of GDP) (BX.KLT.DINV.WD.GD.ZS); Inflation, consumer prices (annual %) (FP.CPI.TOTL.ZG); Container port traffic (TEU: 20 foot equivalent units) (IS.SHP.GOOD.TU); Exports of goods and services (% of GDP) (NE.EXP.GNFS.ZS); Gross capital formation (% of GDP) (NE.GDI.TOTL.ZS); Manufacturing, value added (% of GDP) (NV.IND.MANF.ZS); GDP per capita (constant 2015 US$) (NY.GDP.PCAP.KD); GDP per capita, PPP (constant 2021 international $) (NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.KD); GNI per capita (constant 2015 US$) (NY.GNP.PCAP.KD); GNI per capita, PPP (constant 2021 international $) (NY.GNP.PCAP.PP.KD); Gross savings (% of GDP) (NY.GNS.ICTR.ZS); Unemployment, total (% of total labor force) (modeled ILO estimate) (SL.UEM.TOTL.ZS); Life expectancy at birth, total (years) (SP.DYN.LE00.IN); Fertility rate, total (births per woman) (SP.DYN.TFRT.IN); Population ages 65 and above (% of total population) (SP.POP.65UP.TO.ZS); High-technology exports (% of manufactured exports) (TX.VAL.TECH.MF.ZS) — CC BY 4.0 Values rounded and visualized by the channel. Stock footage: Pexels (pexels.com), by Maksim Romashkin, Yaroslav Shuraev, Philipp Kappler, Imad Clicks, CK Seng, Elvis Deane, David Pickup | Advertising & Marketing 🇬🇧, Towfiqu barbhuiya, Joolsmagools ®️, K, Somogro Bangladesh, Sadikul on, Monstera Production, Engin Akyurt, celal keser, Kampus Production, Romit Majumdar, cottonbro studio, Nova lv, EqualStock IN, Toàn BDS, willy one, Max Medyk, Richard L, Sora Shimazaki, Yan Krukau, Theo Decker, Everett Bumstead, fauxels, Thanh Văn, Timo Volz, Sururi Ballıdağ Director, Mikhail Nilov, Thirdman, Kenan Turguç, Emrul Kausar Emon, Usman AbdulrasheedGambo, Allan González, Mario Aranda, Luke Nomad, Tom Fisk, Ярослав Гарник, HBM Studio, Kindel Media, Steven Van Elk, LayG Traveller, Furkan Elveren, Katerina Holmes, https://kaboompics.com/, Saurabh Srivastava