Study ranks Singapore as highest functioning state in the world

SINGAPORE: The Little Red Dot has once again found itself at the top of a “Best in the World” list, placing first in a 2022 German study that measures how well a state functions.

"We can see the state in everything that surrounds us, for example in the streets, the courts, the police or the schools,” said Theresa Paola Stawski, a research assistant at the Department of Comparative Politics and Systems at the Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, of the 2022 Stateness Index report.

A well-functioning state is defined as one where a patient who needs an X-ray can get an appointment for one on time, has schools all over the country, and has electricity supplied to its residents day and night.

However, in a number of states, this is not the reality.

The study ranks 173 countries, with Singapore placing first, followed by Australia, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Estonia in second, third, fourth and fifth places, respectively.

Luxembourg, Norway, Belgium, New Zealand and Germany round out the top ten.

The United Kingdom is ranked 13th, and the United States comes in 23rd place.

Singapore’s closest neighbours ranked as follows: Malaysia (73rd), Indonesia (53rd) and Thailand (78th).

South Sudan, Yemen and Libya are at the other end of the list.

"These are collapsed states,” she explained, though noting that Yemen has shown some improvement.

Dr Stawski also pointed out that a well-functioning state does not depend on whether it's a democracy, citing Singapore and the United Arab Emirates as examples.

Despite a lack of freedom of speech, a citizen’s needs may be fully met in high-functioning states.

Singapore “can insert and uphold the laws enacted by the regime, possess the means necessary to control both territory and populations and commands a bureaucratic infrastructure to implement and exert territorial sovereignty throughout the state territory,” the study notes. /TISG