Singapore is an island nation located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. The main settlement up to that point was a Malay fishing village at the mouth of the Singapore River. Several hundred indigenous Orang Laut people also lived around the coast, rivers and smaller islands. In 1963, it merged with Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak to form Malaysia. Less than two years later it split from the federation and became an independent republic on 9 August 1965.

Singapore joined the United Nations on September 21 that same year. Since independence, Singapore's standard of living has increased. Singapore is the 17th wealthiest country in the world in terms of GDP per capita. The small nation has a foreign reserve of S$224.65385 billion (US$158.99250 billion). The Constitution of the Republic of Singapore established the nation's political system as a representative democracy, while the country is recognized as a parliamentary republic. The People's Action Party (PAP) dominates the political process and has won control of Parliament in every election since self-government in 1959.

Singapore is a cosmopolitan society where people live harmoniously and interaction among different races is commonly seen. The pattern of Singapore stems from the inherent cultural diversity of the island. The immigrants of the past have given the place a mixture of Malay, Chinese, Indian, and European influences, all of which have intermingled. Behind the facade of a modern city, these ethnic races are still evident. Furthermore, there are marks of the British colonial influence in the Neo-Classical buildings all around the city. Each racial group has its own distinctive religion and there are colorful festivals of special significance all year round. Although the festivals are special to certain races, all nonetheless enjoys it.

In Singapore, food is also readily and widely available. There are lots of cuisines to offer. We have, Chinese, Indian, Malay, Indonesian and Western, Italian, Peranakan, Spanish, French, Thai and even Fusion. It is very common to savour other culture's food and some of the food can be very intriguing. Indian food is relatively spicier, whereas Chinese food is less spicy and the Chinese enjoy seafood. Malay cooking uses coconut milk as their main ingredient, that makes their food very tasty.

Singapore had only a few Malay fishermen as inhabitants at the time of its founding as a British trading post in 1819. It was subsequently, and quite rapidly, populated by immigrant peoples, primarily Chinese but also Malays (from Sumatra as well as adjacent Malaya) and Indians (who took advantage of common British governance to migrate to Singapore in search of better employment). Thus immigration, rather than natural increase, was the major factor in Singapore's fast population growth through the mid-20th century.

In November 1965, following separation from Malaysia, Singapore's newly independent government introduced measures to restrict the flow of Malaysians entering the country in search of work. These immigrants, who averaged 10,000 a year up to 1964, had to establish residence for several years to qualify for citizenship. In addition, all non-citizens were required to apply for a work permit or employment pass. Immigration is now generally restricted to those with capital or with special skills. In 2000, the net migration rate was 19.6 migrants per 1,000 populations. There were 1,352,000 migrants living in Singapore in that year.

As Singapore is a small and relatively modern amalgam of Chinese, Malay, Indian and European immigrants, the culture of Singapore expresses the diversity of the population as the various ethnic groups continue to celebrate their own cultures while they intermingle with one another.

Singapore has several distinct ethnic neighborhoods, including Little India, Chinatown and Kampong Glam, formed by the Raffles Plan of Singapore in the early 19th century to segregate the new immigrants into specific areas. Although the population are no longer segregated in distribution, mainly due to the policies of the Housing Development Board and the ruling People's Action Party, these ethnic neighborhoods retain unique elements of their specific culture.

The usage of such neighbourhoods is mostly commercial or for cottage industry specific to the culture of its ethnic neighborhood, and no longer plays a large part in housing the population, although it was once used for that purpose. Hence, these neighbourhoods have patronage of all races who wish to either eat or buy something specific to that culture. Each Human RIGHTS topic includes

* A synopsis of Singapore’s legal framework,
* Existing regional and international legal standards,
* An assessment of Singapore’s progress on human
   rights and the challenges that remain,
* Children's Rights,
* Death Penalty,
* Foreign Domestic Workers,
* Freedom of Speech,
* Women's Rights.

Singapore has a high literacy rate. English is the first language learned by half the children by the time they reach preschool age and is the primary medium of instruction in primary school; however mother tongues are taught in the respective languages. The degree of autonomy, regarding curriculum and student admission, government funding received, and tuition burden on the students is further classified into "government-run", "government-aided", "autonomous", "independent", and "privately-funded". There are 4 state universities in Singapore; "The National University of Singapore", "Nanyang Technological University", "Singapore Management University" and "SIM University". The educational system features non-compulsory kindergarten for 3 years, followed by six years of primary education concluding with the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE).

Four to five years of secondary education follow, leading to N level or Singaporean GCE 'O' Level examinations that assess their individual subject mastery and determine which kind of tertiary education they can pursue. Junior colleges and Millennia Institute provide a two or three-year pre-university education route to university. An alternative, the Integrated Programme, lets the more academically-inclined skip 'O' levels to proceed straight to 'A' levels. The Economic Development Board (EDB) has been actively recruiting foreign schools to set up campuses in Singapore under the "Global Schoolhouse" programme which aims to attract 150000 foreign students by 2015. INSEAD, a leading business school, opened its first overseas campus here in 2001, while ESSEC Business School, a century-old Parisian business school, provide courses specific to Asia. University of Chicago Graduate School of Business has a campus here as well. Tisch School of the Arts was the latest to set up a branch campus here in 2007.

However, the EDB failed to attract and retain Warwick University and University of New South Wales, respectively, citing lack of academic freedom and financial concerns. In 1999, the Ministry of Education started the "Programme for Rebuilding and Improving Existing schools" (PRIME) to upgrade school buildings, many of which were built over 20 to 30 years ago. This programme achieves to provide a better school environment for the students by upgrading school buildings to latest standards. In 2005, the Flexible School Infrastructure (FlexSI) framework was implemented through the building of modular classrooms which can be opened up for larger lectures, and allowing a school's staff members to mould their school's designs to suit the school's unique identity and culture. At the same time, an indoor sports hall will be provided to every school so that schools can carry out physical education lessons in inclement weather.