As the people gear up to celebrate Singapore’s 59th birthday, Milieu Insight, an award-winning survey software company in Southeast Asia, conducted a poll from 17 to 23 July 2024 to learn more about the nation’s sentiments – covering these 5 main topics:
- (i) top qualities wanted for the next generation of leaders
- (ii) changes Singaporeans want for the country
- (iii) favourite NDP song
- (iv) our national dish and cravings when abroad
- (v) sentiments on National Pride.
The survey was conducted among a nationally representative sample by age and gender of N=1,000 citizens – aged 16 years old and above.
“The report reveals Singaporean’s strong national pride and sentiments and the top qualities they want for the next generation of leaders, and it’s heartening to see that the majority are confident in our current government. Overall, Singaporeans are primarily hoping for improved measures to address management of the cost of living, relief on the ageing population and increased opportunities in the workforce. These findings reflect a nation poised not just for growth, but for inclusive prosperity and a brighter future,” said Gerald Ang, Co-founder & CEO, Milieu Insight.
On 1 September 2023, former deputy premier Tharman Shanmugaratnam won the Presidential Elections by a landslide vote of 70.4% and on 15 May 2024, Mr Lawrence Wong was sworn in as the 4th Prime Minister – the first leadership change in 20 years.
With several role changes within the Cabinet, the survey showed that 87% of Singaporeans are confident in their current government’s ability to navigate the nation through geopolitical tensions with 83% confident in the next generation of leaders for the nation.
The top 3 qualities across the age group surveyed believed to be the most important in national leaders are integrity (52%), accountability (43%) and visionary (37%).
However, Gen Zs between 16 and 24 years old prefer accountability (43%), integrity (42%) and good communications skills (32%) while older generations aged 55 and above value integrity the most for future leaders.
With Singapore’s core inflation rate hitting a 3-year low at 2.4% in June, the top 3 changes Singaporeans would like to see in the next 10 years are improved/increased measures to address the management of the cost of living (79%), relief on the ageing population (59%) and increased opportunities in the workforce (58%).
Diversity, equality and inclusion are important factors in particular for Gen Zs aged 16-24 – They feel more passionately about increased freedom of speech (37%) and recognition of rights, such as LGBTQ+ (28%), compared to the overall national average of 29% and 18%, respectively.
From a selection of National Day song choices from ‘Stand Up For Singapore’ in 1985 to this year’s ‘Not Alone’, over 1 in 3 (34%) of those aged 16-24 chose 2011’s ‘In A Heartbeat’ as their favourite NDP song. Those aged 25-34 preferred ‘Home’ (61%) from the year 2004 and ‘Where I Belong’ (44%) from 2001.
Overall, 1 in 2 Singaporeans picked ‘Home’ as their favourite National Day Parade song, followed by ‘Where I Belong’ (22%).
A melting pot of culture, ethnicities and traditions, Singapore is well known for having a variety of mouthwatering cuisines from local favourites to fusion delights, hence which dish would best be our national dish was a close competition.
Over 1 in 3 Singaporeans (34%) believe that Chili Crab is best suited to be Singapore’s national dish, with women (40%) favouring it more than men (27%).
However, over 1 in 5 Singaporeans (22%) think Hainanese Chicken Rice is the best choice for the national dish. Additionally, 1 in 5 (21%) would crave Hainanese Chicken Rice after being overseas for an extended period.
‘I am proud to be Singaporean’ – Majority (94%) resonate with this statement, with 1 in 3 (33%) of those aged above 45 strongly agreeing. 94% also feel a sense of familiarity when they see/hear other Singaporeans while they are travelling abroad.
