Singapore's startup appeal outpaces its path to permanent residency

Startup ecosystem and education drives the country's strong pillar score.

Singapore's startup ecosystem emerged as its strongest indicator under the "settling and opportunity" pillar in Rumavi's Global Relocation Index.

The pillar also assessed education and schooling, language and English access, business opportunity, visa ease, and path to permanence, with path to permanence receiving the lowest score among the six indicators.

Under the category, Singapore scored 97 for startup ecosystem and 95 for education and schooling, alongside 93 for language and English access.

Its business opportunity score was 78, whilst visa ease and path to permanence received scores of 64 and 58, respectively balancing out to a 80.2 overall score for the pillar.

Singapore placed second globally in Rumavi's 2026 Global Relocation Index with an overall score of 72.6, trailing Estonia's 72.8. Malaysia came third with 72.0, followed by Portugal and Taiwan.

The index, released on 1 July, evaluates 192 countries and territories using 24 indicators grouped into four pillars which are financial and tax, livability and health, safety and stability, and settling and opportunity.

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