SMU Household Needs Study - Insights and Interactive Dashboards

A study undertaken by the Singapore Management University in partnership with the Ministry of Social and Family Development sought to find out what Singaporeans deemed essential for "normal life" in Singapore. The findings were published in a Channel News Asia article in 12 July 2024 which claimed that "Air-conditioning, overseas holidays essential for Singaporeans, but streaming services are not: SMU study"

The headline raised a lot of eyebrows and no shortage of comments and engagement on social media. It suggested perceptions of entitlement and/or a first world mentality since air conditioning and the overseas holiday could be seen as luxuries but deemed as "essential" in Singapore. Some stopped reading at the headline, and started online debates. But if you did read further, Air Conditioning and Overseas Holidays were deeemed essential and Staycations and Paid streaming services not essential to "normal life" in Singapore on the basis that the first two items were ranked within the top 40 items in the survey, and the other two items were not. Which prompts severakl questions:

What other items were included in the survey to find out if they were essential to "Normal Life" in Singapore?
Why was the threshold set at the top 40 items as "essential to normal life" in Singapore?
Why did Channel News Asia focus on Air Conditioning and Overseas Holidays when there are 38 others to choose from?

What the Report Says...

To get answers tothe above questions, we turn to the actual report from SMU; which can be accessed through a link in the CNA article. The report showed the following:

51 items were surveyed in the study
Air conditioning was ranked 33rd and Overseas Holidays ranked 36th
Paid Streaming Services was ranked 47th and Staycations ranked 51st
The item that made the top of the list was a refrigerator.
40 of the 51 items were deemed "essential for normal life in Singapore" based on the concurrence of >50% of the respondents.
The priority of items ranked as essential appear to follow Maslow's Hierarchy of needs; where the top of the list were mostly to fulfill physiological needs, followed by safety and family and belonging needs.

The question of how the news article determined that the top 40 items out of 51 were deemed "essential" is now clear; but it is less clear as to why Air Conditioning and Overseas Holidays were highlighted within the top 40. But I suspect that it was likely due to the fact that they could be deemed as luxury items, but were still considered as "Essential" by more than 50% of respondents.

Revealing the details below the agregate scores

The survey also explored key differences in responses across Dwelling types, Household Incomes and Age. As in any survey, there will be some differences in the responses, some differences are due to chance while others are statistically significant. Statistically significant differences suggests a reliable difference in the responses across different groups which is not due to chance.

For example,

Family bonding time, Going out with Friends and Free time for hobbies ranked a lot lower for those living in 1-2 room HDB units rank; while the same items were ranked high by those living in Private Properties. The differences were less noticeable among those that lived in 3-4 room and 5 room or larger HDB units.
Personal Computers, Air conditioners and Dining out once a month were ranked much lower for those earning less than SG$2,499 per month (bottom 10% in household income); but was deemed more essential for those earning more than SG$6,000 per month.
Dedicated Table and Chairs for studying, Personal computers, School books and Toys swere deemed more essential by those aged below 34 than those aged above 65.

Perceptions of Poverty in Singapore

The survey was asked respondents what they thought was the causes of poverty in Singapore. The differences in perceptions across the different segments.

Those residing the 1-2 room HDB flats and low household income tended to believe that poverty was due to Fate or God's will. However those residing in Private Property and high income households believed that the Uneven distribution of wealth and social injustice were the causes of poverty
The older respondents tended to belive that poverty was due to God's will or Fate, while the younger respondents believed it was due to Social Injustice and the Unven distribution of wealth

Call to Action

Clearly there are much more insights to find in the report. You can download the report from SMU here. FYT has taken the liberty to convert many of the tables in the report into interactive Tableau dashboards which you can access by clicking on any of the above charts. Let us know what other interested insights you find, and let us know if you have any questions.