Singapore: how we arrived at a score of 8.02 in the World ranking

Singapore has a score of 8.02 on a 0-to-10 scale in the World ranking of Onde Viver Bem. The score is editorial and indicative: it follows the site's own methodology, with 13 variables and fixed weights. Cost of living and the price per square metre are not part of the score. The position in the list changes when the database is updated; it is a reference, not a verdict or a recommendation to invest, immigrate or buy property.

The ranking asks where life is better in a post-AGI world, with less work and more free time, nature and company. The Singapore profile gathers the raw figures and the source of each variable. This article explains how those pieces add up, describes the city with the data in the base, and covers the land market, the reference price of housing and the taxes we have already collected.

The city in the database

Singapore is an island city-state at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. City and country therefore coincide: the database uses 5,866,139 inhabitants, a 2021 figure in Wikidata (Q334). The central point of the calculations is at 1.3° N, 103.8° E, at about 14 m of altitude. Within a 50 km radius, the highest point sampled in the elevation model reaches only 143 m; there is no mountainous relief, by the methodology's criterion, within 150 km.

Altitude and relief: DEM sampling via Open-Meteo Elevation, collected on November 9, 2026.

The climate is equatorial and almost the same year-round. In the 2015–2024 normals, the mean monthly maximum sits between 28.7 °C (January) and 29.9 °C (March), and the minimum between 24.2 °C and 25.9 °C. There are 292.1 days a year in the methodology's thermal-comfort band — a maximum between 18 and 30 °C and a minimum of at least 10 °C — which yields a score of 8.85 for mild climate. The metric does not weigh humidity or rain: mean monthly relative humidity sits between 82% and 87%, and rainfall runs from 116 mm (February) to 348 mm (November).

Monthly normals and comfort days: ERA5 via Open-Meteo Archive (2015–2024), collected on November 9, 2026.

Safety, the largest weight

The variable with the largest weight is safety, at 15%. Since November 10, 2026 the score combines three parts, and Singapore scores 8.47 (it was 8.43). Violent deaths (40%): 0.95 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants — 0.17 per 100,000 homicides in 2024, from the Singapore Police Force's annual report as reported by The Straits Times, plus 0.78 per 100,000 undetermined-intent deaths in 2021–2022, from the WHO mortality database. Adding undetermined-intent deaths is a rule of the methodology in every city and gives an upper bound: some of those deaths are not homicides. On the logarithmic scale (30 per 100,000 scores 0; 0.5 scores 10), that is 8.43. Robbery compared with the country (30%): because the city is the country itself, the ratio is 1 by definition; score 6.99. Feeling of safety (30%): 98% say they feel safe walking alone at night (Gallup, 2024 survey, national sample); score 10. The city's overall score, after the November 10, 2026 adjustments to bars, restaurants and entertainment, is 8.02.

Sources: The Straits Times, Singapore Police Force annual crime statistics (2024) and WHO, WHO Mortality Database (ICD-10) and Gallup, Global Safety Report 2025 (feeling of safety).

Life outside the home, culture and entertainment

This is where the weakest point in the score appears. Bars score 3.32, the lowest of the 13 variables: 13 OSM objects and 38 in Overture Maps within 2 km of the central point; 481 and 1,195 in the territory, or 0.82 per 10,000 inhabitants in OSM. Restaurants reach 6.97 (216 in OSM and 521 in Overture within 2 km; 4,630 and 13,791 in the territory). Since November 10, 2026 the score for these two variables is the average of an OSM score and an Overture score on the same scale, and bars weigh 3.73% (previously 7.45%). The central point is Wikidata's coordinate for Singapore (1.3° N, 103.8° E), about 6 km from the financial centre (Raffles Place), which also pulls the 2 km count down. Parks stand at 5.81 (28 within 2 km; 931 in the territory, 1.59 per 10,000). The counts come from a collaborative map and may have gaps: the city's hawker centres, typical food halls, are not always tagged as restaurants, and the density uses the population of the whole country.

Entertainment scores 9.64: within 50 km there are 48 destinations (theme parks, zoos, aquariums and water parks) and 53 stadiums or music venues — 101 in total, close to the variable's cap of 120, which accounts for 11.73% of the score since November 10, 2026 (previously 8%). The 50 km radius includes part of Johor, in Malaysia. Culture adds 43 theatres, cinemas, cultural centres or museums within 5 km, a score of 7.54. The airport hits the maximum of 10: there are 6 aerodromes with an IATA code within 50 km (the rule gives 7 with one and 10 with two or more).

Counts: OpenStreetMap via the ohsome API, July 27, 2026; bars and restaurants also from Overture Maps Places (release of October 21, 2026, Overture Maps Foundation, CDLA Permissive 2.0); parks in the territory from a Geofabrik extract, November 8, 2026. Densities use the population of 5,866,139 (Wikidata, 2021).

Nature nearby — the sea is close, the mountains are not

Beach or mountains hits the maximum score of 10, at the second-largest weight (11.59%). The entire score comes from the “beach” side: the nearest water mapped in OpenStreetMap is 5 km from the central point, which already scores 10 on the scale. The metric measures distance to a mapped sea, lake or river, not the quality of a swimming beach. On the “mountain” side, the partial score is 0, because there is no mountainous relief within the rule's reach. A richness of nature leisure within 50 km does exist (partial score 9.36, with 51 waterfalls, 19 protected areas, 14 trail routes and 165 mapped viewpoints), but without relief it does not count. The final score is the maximum of beach and mountains, plus 30% of the minimum, capped at 10.

Distance to water: OSM via ohsome. Relief: Open-Meteo Elevation. Nature-leisure counts within 50 km: ohsome, July 27, 2026.

Sun, water, air and health

Sun scores 7.38, with 1,811.6 kWh/m²/year of radiation from 2015 to 2024 (linear scale: 1,000 kWh scores 0; 2,100 kWh scores 10). Water stands at 7.39, and here country and city are the same territory. In 2022, Singapore's water stress was 33.255% of withdrawals over available resources; in 2024, 100% of the population had safely managed water (World Bank). The score is the average of the two scales.

Clean air scores 7.67, with annual mean PM2.5 of 12.0 µg/m³ in 2021, according to the WHO air-quality database (the organization's target is 5 µg/m³; the scale runs from 35 µg/m³ = 0 to 5 µg/m³ = 10). Health reaches 9.40: life expectancy of 83.346 years in 2024 (World Bank) and 48 OSM hospitals within 10 km.

Sun: ERA5 via Open-Meteo. Water and life expectancy: World Bank water stress, safely managed water and life expectancy. Air: WHO Ambient Air Quality Database. Hospitals: OSM via ohsome, July 27, 2026.

Land, housing and taxes

The price the site shows next to the score is the square metre of land, not of an apartment. In Singapore, the profile shows US$ 34,718/m² (S$ 44,443), the highest in the database. The official figure comes from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) government land sales: the median of the winning price divided by the site area, for 31 residential sites awarded between November 26, 2024 and November 4, 2026. Half of the sales fell between US$ 20,175 and US$ 43,530/m² (P25–P75).

The figure needs a careful reading. These are plots for high-density condominiums, on 99-year leases, sold by the government to developers. There are no comparable sales of house plots: the value per m² of site includes development potential and is far above that of a single-family plot in other cities.

Source: URA, Government Land Sales — Past Sales Sites (spreadsheet updated on November 4, 2026), collected on November 10, 2026. Conversion to dollars: SGD 1.2801 per USD on November 9, 2026, ECB reference rates via the Frankfurter API.

The square-metre price of an apartment is shown only as a reference, off the chart axis and out of the score. On Numbeo, the crowdsourced average of the last 18 months to November 8, 2026 is S$ 29,705/m² in the centre, S$ 21,375/m² outside the centre and S$ 25,540/m² in the simple average of the two cuts (US$ 19,952). That is 253 responses from 45 contributors; it is not an official index or a recorded transaction.

Numbeo, property investment in Singapore, collected on November 9, 2026. Same exchange rate of November 9, 2026.

On a residential purchase, Buyer's Stamp Duty (BSD) is marginal, from 1% on the first S$ 180,000 up to 6% above S$ 3 million, on the price or the market value, whichever is higher. On top of it comes Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty (ABSD): since April 27, 2023, a foreigner pays 60% on any residential property; a citizen pays 0%, 20% or 30% depending on the number of properties, and a permanent resident 5%, 30% or 35%. The annual property tax is still a gap in this database: it was not collected in this round, and we do not invent a rate.

BSD and ABSD: IRAS — Stamp Duty and IRAS — ABSD (2026; collected on November 9, 2026 — check the current text on the official site before any decision).

What the score does not say

Some of the data on bars, restaurants, parks, culture, hospitals, airports and nature leisure come from collaborative maps, which are subject to gaps, and the 50 km radii cross the border with Malaysia. Steady heat and humidity are not part of the climate metric. The land price is for condominium sites on 99-year leases, not for a house plot. The score does not include cost of living, rent, wages, visas or school quality. The 8.02 score is an indicative summary of the current methodology, with the caveats above, not a ranking of the “best city in the world” in an absolute sense.

The full methodology, the scales and the source of each figure are on the methodology page. The Singapore profile keeps the variable-by-variable detail; the map and the land × score chart place the city in the set.