High cost of living, low salaries, stressful environment and angry with the political system.
More young Singaporeans aged between 19 and 30 in 2016 were thinking of emigration according to a 2016 government survey published only yesterday (Sep 28). According to the the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), 29.2% of the survey respondents said they are actively seeking emigration within the next five years (from 2016).
It is unknown why the government institute held back the survey results for 2 years.
The survey found that 31.6% are labelled as “disconnected stayers”, meaning they have negative perception of Singapore’s future but they have to continue living in Singapore anyway. 27.7% are labelled as “explorers”, who are actively looking to get out of Singapore, while 11.6% are labelled as “disconnected”, who are disillusioned with their life in Singapore and looking to emigrate. Only 29.1% are labelled as “flourishing stayers”, who are “doing well” and pledging their loyalty to the dictatorship government.
46.9% of the survey respondents said they are happy to dump the Singapore citizenship once they receive new citizenship from other countries.
According to the population report released by the Prime Minister’s Office earlier this week, the number of Singaporeans living overseas have jumped to 216,400 in June 2018. The report however did not reveal how many Singaporeans gave up their citizenship.