Why Singapore? Singapore is an international financial centre, offering financial institutions a pro-business environment, excellent infrastructure, cost-competitiveness, a highly-skilled and cosmopolitan labour force, and is strategically located in a region of opportunities. Singapore in General: GDP up 8.9% in 3Q2007 CPI up 3.6% in Oct 2007 Total Trade up 15.5% in Oct 2007 Index of Industrial Production up 0.9% in Oct 2007 Retail Sales up 6.5% in Sep 2007 Total Population was 4.68 million in Jun 2007 (yoy growth of 4.4%) Employment was 2.67 million in Sep 2007 Unemployment Rate (SA) was at a low of 1.7% in Sep 2007 Modern Singapore In the 1959 general elections the People's Action party (PAP) won control of the government and continued in power after winning the 1963 elections. Under the policies of Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's economic base was strengthened and a greater degree of social and cultural homogeneity was achieved. Singapore has remained in the Commonwealth of Nations, and it joined the United Nations in 1965; it was one of the founding members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1967. In 1993, Ong Teng Cheong, former chairman of the PAP, became Singapore's first directly elected president. Land Lying just north of the equator and located between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, Singapore is situated at the convergence of some of the world's major sea-lanes. Lying just north of the equator and located between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, Singapore is situated at the convergence of some of the world's major sea-lanes.  People As a city-state, Singapore is one of the world's most densely populated countries with about 12,000 people per sq mi (about 4,600 people per sq km). A massive urban renewal program, begun in the 1960s, has replaced virtually all of Singapore's slums with modern housing units. As a result of family planning and a strict immigration policy, the annual rate of population increase has declined to just over 1%, down from 4.5% in the 1950s. The population is over 75% Chinese; Malays and Indians constitute large minorities. Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Confucianism, and Christianity are the religions of Singapore. The country has four official languages—Mandarin, Malay, Tamil, and English—and one of the world's highest literacy rates (a product of a fine uniform education system conducted in all the official languages). Economy Singapore is one of the world's greatest commercial centers, with a large, modern port. Commerce has historically been the chief source of income. For many years the largest importer in SE Asia, Singapore is a free port and an entrepôt that reexports more than half of what it imports, notably rubber, petroleum, textiles, timber, and tin. It also exports locally manufactured goods such as computer and telecommunications equipment, petroleum products, oil drilling equipment, plastics, rubber products, and processed food and beverages. The country imports most of its food requirements. The country's chief trading partners are Japan, the United States, Malaysia, and Indonesia. With more than 300 factories and deepwater wharves, the Jurong Industrial Estate is Southeast Asia's largest industrial complex. It and the Changi International Airport are built largely on infill of marsh and shallow waters of the straits. The country has a number of large petroleum storing and refining facilities, and Keppel Harbor is one of the world's largest container-handling facilities.   *Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, Copyright (c) 2003.