Understanding Singapore’s top position in the Index

Note: Below is a featured key finding from the 2022 Global Financial Inclusion Index.

Highlights

• The No. 1 ranking reflects strong scores in government support and financial system support, where it ranked first and third respectively.
• Singapore has the least complex tax system among all the markets in the Index.
• It ranks second for education levels and access to credit but scores lower for online connectivity, enabler of small and medium enterprise (SME) growth and success, and enabler of general business confidence.
• Singapore’s comparatively low position in the employer support pillar (14th) is the primary reason that the market does not attain an even higher overall score.

Singapore’s No. 1 position is reflective of its robust performance in the government support and financial system support pillars, where it ranked first and third respectively. Its high score in the former is partly due to its streamlined corporate tax system; the data shows that Singapore has the least complex system among all the markets in the Index.

Singapore separates itself from the other top five ranked markets in the government pillar with strong scores in the education and employment indicators. In particular, Singapore attained an indicator score of 90.6 for education levels, placing it second, just behind China.

However, Singapore performs relatively less well for the availability of government-provided financial education and deposit protection schemes indicators, which create a drag on its otherwise high government support ratings, with ranks of 24th and 37th respectively. For online connectivity, Singapore ranked sixth but still attained a relatively low score of 54.8. By contrast, Hong Kong ranked first for online connectivity with a score of 95.4. The online connectivity indicator is based on fixed broadband subscriptions (per 100 people) and mobile cellular subscriptions (per 100 people). Singapore has 25.1 and 144.1 people per broadband and mobile subscription, whereas Hong Kong has 38.3 and 291.7, highlighting the divide in online connectivity.

Conversely, the market’s high ranking in the financial system support pillar can be explained by relatively easier access to credit, a greater share of the population having access to bank accounts, and the quality of developments in the fintech space.

That said, Singapore lags in some other indicators that make up the financial system pillar. In particular, it scores somewhat poorly in the enabler of SME growth and success and enabler of general business confidence indicators, reflecting relatively lower reported business confidence in the financial system.

Singapore ranks 10th in the real-time transactions indicator but with a low score of just 24.3, implying that the use of real-time transactions is not yet very prevalent.

While not in the top 10, Singapore is 14th out of 42 for employer support, scoring well for employee pension contributions (ranked sixth overall) but lower in the rest of the pillar’s indicators.

To read more Index insights or the full report, see Data & Resources.