Inequality is measured with a number called the Gini index, calculated by comparing the income or wealth distribution of a perfectly equal society to that of the real world. The area of this gap, multiplied by two, gives us the Gini. A Gini of 1 indicates perfect inequality — one person has everything, everyone else has nothing. You’d never see this in real life, because everyone except that one person would starve. A Gini of 0 indicates perfect equality — everyone earns the same. That, too, doesn’t exist in practice, not even in communist states, where equal distribution is claimed in theory but never realised in fact.

In reality, developed countries today average post-tax Gini scores around 0.3, ranging from relatively equal to deeply unequal. The Gini, however, doesn’t tell us how easy it is to escape poverty, nor how societies arrived at their current state of inequality. And inequality is never just about money. It is entangled with history, power, and culture — shaped by discrimination, imperialism, colonialism, caste systems, and above all, political choices.

The Singapore Lens

Inequality in Singapore isn’t just a number on a Gini chart — it’s something you see around you every day. Who gets the better schools based on where they live. Who gets the subsidies. Who can actually speak and be heard in the system.

Government transfers exist — Workfare, GST vouchers, Silver Support — but these are highly targeted, highly conditional. They soften inequality without fixing it — Many Families still live month-to-month as median income ranges around $5,000 dollars while cost of living for a family hovers around $6,000.

The same with services. Healthcare and education are subsidised, but they are still heavy with out-of-pocket costs and family obligations. A universal model — the kind proposed by the Workers’ Party in parliament or even the single-payer system floated by the SDP — takes the load off families and frees people to focus on work, education, or just living without constant fear of not having enough.

Then there is the elephant in the room nobody likes to touch — extreme wealth concentration — At what point does meritocracy quietly turn into plutocracy as Singapore invites the global elite to invest in the nation?

At the core, inequality isn’t only an economic problem. It’s a democratic one. When wealth, voice and power all concentrate at the top — who actually speaks for everyone else?

If the billionaire can buy the megaphone, the newspaper, even head a national association, then the average citizen’s voice becomes background noise.

Singapore calls itself a meritocracy — but meritocracy only works if the starting line is fair.