Disclaimer: Unless otherwise stated any opinions expressed below belong solely to the author. Data comes from 3rd party research.
Over the past three years, global inflation has shaken consumer confidence around the world, putting pressure on millions of people facing uncertainty due to prices of everyday goods and services seemingly spinning out of control.
Singaporeans were not spared the calamity, of course. Although the rate of inflation is currently back down to very low levels of under 1%, that doesn’t mean that prices have fallen. They simply stopped growing.
The question in this situation is: how quickly have earnings and disposable incomes in the economy grown to make these higher prices affordable again?
As it turns out, in the case of Singapore, very.
Happy like a Singaporean
In the annual City Pulse 2025 report by the Gensler Research Institute, 59% of Singaporeans stated that it was unlikely or very unlikely for them to leave the city for greener pastures—the third highest percentage in the world, behind Taipei (64%) and Ho Chi Minh City (61%).
77% of Singaporeans are satisfied with their home and, most importantly in our context, around half say that the affordability of life in the city has improved over the past year.
This echoes the findings of a more robust and ongoing domestic survey of sociopolitical sentiments in Singapore, carried out by Blackbox Research.
Similar to Gensler Institute’s results, it shows that 52% of Singaporeans approve of the government’s handling of the cost of living crisis—up from just 27% in September of 2023.
Even more Singaporeans are pleased with how the rising housing costs have been addressed, with close to 60% happy with the government’s performance in 2025, up from under 40% less than two years ago.
Those numbers are higher still for the current state of local salaries and wages, as almost two-thirds of respondents are finally happy with the situation.
As you can see, the pressures of living costs have eased significantly over the past two years, with Singaporeans expressing happiness with the government’s handling of the largely global problems that made their lives uneasy and difficult.
This is despite the controversial and unpopular hike of the Goods & Services Tax.
Not even GST is a problem anymore
The contentious GST increases, executed in 2023 and 2024, were originally met with negative responses, but as time has gone by, with the government announcing new measures to ease the pain on regular consumers, Singaporeans have grown to accept the new reality.
From just one-third a little over a year ago, more than half of the society now approves of how the GST increases were handled, following generous relief packages handed out by the government while maintaining budgetary surpluses.
In total, over 79% of respondents are satisfied with their financial situation, and a whopping 84% have rated economic conditions positively this April.
What’s more, 56% of Singaporeans expect to be better off financially this time next year, while just 15% think otherwise.
All in all, sentiments in the society have received a massive boost in the past 20 months—shifting from deep uncertainty caused by rampant inflation, to satisfaction and optimism looking ahead towards 2026.
While the cost of living remains the most important issue for about 40% of the society, that figure is down from nearly 60% in late 2023, indicating that a majority of Singaporeans feel they are finally in the clear when it comes to financial woes.
- Read other articles we’ve written on Singapore’s current affairs here.
