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Singapore is a city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, 137 kilometres north of the equator. It is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the Singapore Strait to its south.
Ongoing land reclamation projects have increased Singapore’s land area to 712.4 sq km in 2010. Singapore has a tropical rainforest climate with no distinctive seasons and is characterised by uniform temperature and pressure, high humidity, and abundant rainfall. Temperatures typically range from 24 to 31°C. |
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There are four official languages: English, Chinese, Malay, and Tamil. Malay is the national language; English is the first language of the nation and is the language of business, government and medium of instruction in schools.
As of June 2010, it has a total population of 5.08 million; 76.2% of residents are of Chinese descent, 15.1% of Malay descent, 7.4% of Indian descent, and 1.3% of other descents.
Singapore is a republic with a parliamentary system of government. There are three branches of government: Executive, Legislative and the Judiciary. The President of the Republic of Singapore is Singapore's head of state. The Cabinet, led by the Prime Minister, is responsible for all government policies and the day-to-day administration of the affairs of state.
Major industries of the nation include: electronics, chemicals, financial services, oil drilling equipment, petroleum refining, rubber processing and products, processed food and beverages, ship repair, offshore platform construction, life sciences and entrepot trade. The nation’s GDP in 2010 is S$303.7 billion. |
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