S'pore not a very exciting city: Survey

Singaporeans looking for fun in the country have been disappointed.

Kayla Wong | January 31, 2018, 04:37 PM

It's official. Singapore is one of the least exciting cities in the world.

In the Time Out's City Life Index 2018 published on Jan. 30, 2018, Singapore ranked a dismal 31 out of 32 cities.

The anonymous survey of 15,000 urbanites was conducted across 32 cities, and took into account criteria such as culture, food, drink, friendliness, liveability, affordability and happiness.

Worst rated city for culture

That's not all.

Singapore was pronounced the "worst rated city" for culture.

The city-state is also the worst for drinking apart from Dubai, where hotels and a number of licensed pubs and restaurants are the only licensed booze suppliers.

Not surprising, considering how an average can or bottle of beer (330ml) at bars in Singapore costs roughly S$11.40 while getting one from the supermarket is four times cheaper at S$2.60.

However, Singapore's final score of 98.7 points was saved by its good ratings for safety and public transport, and its "much buzzier restaurant scene" as compared to other bottom-ranked cities.

Istanbul, which came in last in the survey, is thought of as a "rip-off" and unsafe by its own residents, adding that they don't "feel proud or enjoy living there".

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Shanghai highest-ranked Asian city

Shanghai came in at 16, making it the highest-ranked Asian city, with its residents giving high ratings for its public transport and safety.

It’s also "easy to make friends".

But it is Hong Kong (ranked 26) which tops the best public transport in the world, at least according to its locals.

Still, there's a flip side to everything.

The autonomous territory under China has one of the lowest overall happiness scores of all the cities surveyed, more than anywhere else. Hong Kongers cannot see themselves continuing to live in the city in five years' time.

Here's the full list of the cities featured:

Time Out’s City Life Index 2018

  1. Chicago (138.2 points)
  2. Porto (137.9 points)
  3. New York (134.6 points)
  4. Melbourne (132.3 points)
  5. London (131.4 points)
  6. Madrid (131.1 points)
  7. Manchester (130.9 points)
  8. Lisbon (130.2 points)
  9. Philadelphia (129.2 points)
  10. Barcelona (128.4 points)
  11. Edinburgh (128.2 points)
  12. Tel Aviv (125.8 points)
  13. Austin (125.3 points)
  14. Paris (124.9 points)
  15. Mexico City (121.2 points)
  16. Shanghai (119.5 points)
  17. San Francisco (119.4 points)
  18. Berlin (119.2 points)
  19. Tokyo (117.7 points)
  20. Los Angeles (116.8 points)
  21. Zurich (115.3 points)
  22. Beijing (113.0 points)
  23. Washington, DC (111.3 points)
  24. Bangkok (111.0 points)
  25. Moscow (110.2 points)
  26. Hong Kong (109.6 points)
  27. Miami (107.9 points)
  28. Sydney (106.1 points)
  29. Dubai (105.3 points)
  30. Boston (103.7 points)
  31. Singapore (98.7 points)
  32. Istanbul (87.1 points)

Top image of a young Singaporean looking for fun via Pixabay