Wikipedia
Singapore is a city-state in Southeast Asia. Its surface area is 724.2 km. It comprises 63 islands, the main one being Pulau Ujong (584.8 km2). This island is very densely urbanized, but the lush vegetation – even in the heart of the city center – has earned Singapore the nickname « Garden City ». This abundance of greenery stems in part from an equatorial climate, which is uniformly warm and stormy throughout the year. Its population density is the second highest in the world among the independent states (after Monaco).
Singapore is the third country in the world in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP) gross domestic product per capita after Qatar and Luxembourg. Commercial and financial hub between the Pacific area and Europe, the city owes its development to its exceptional maritime location at the eastern end of the Strait of Malacca, which earned it the nickname of: « Merchant city on the borders of the Orient « . It has the second largest port in the world (after Shanghai) in terms of exports and maritime traffic. The Singaporean population enjoys a very high standard of living and the city-state is often referred to as « the Switzerland of Asia ». In 2009, Singapore had the highest concentration of millionaires compared to the total population, ahead of Hong Kong (China), Switzerland, Qatar and Kuwait.
The ethnic diversity of the Singaporean population is important: the Chinese make up 74.3% of the population; the Malays, who constitute the indigenous people, represent 13.3%; Indians make up 9.1% and the rest come from various countries, especially the West (3.3%). There are around 10,000 people of European origin with Singaporean nationality, mostly descendants of the British.
According to the 2017 census, 33.1% of Singaporeans are Buddhists, 18.8% Muslims, 14.9% Christians, 11% Taoists, 5% Hindus, 0.6% have another religion and 18, 4% have none. LGBT rights are not recognized in the city-state of Singapore. Singaporean law condemns same-sex relationships with men, but not same-sex relationships between women.
The anti-same-sex relationship policies of the Singapore authorities are in part the legacy of British colonialism, still applied with Section 377, a criminal provision that also remains in effect in Malaysia, Pakistan and Bangladesh to this day. Between 2007 and 2013, nine people were sentenced under Section 377 in Singapore.
Despite Section 377, the Singapore government did not oppose the organization of the local equivalent of a pride march in 2014 (the event is named Pink Dot; literally: “Point Rose”), which brought together more than 26,000 people. There are gay bars in Singapore, only men who are sexually active there may face prison terms. The Economist speaks about this paradoxical situation of « permanent parole. » «