What Singaporeans deem essential for a ‘normal life’

Lower-rated essentials included annual staycations and streaming services.

Household appliances, digital connectivity tools, and social activities have been identified as essentials for daily life by most Singaporeans.

The Household Needs Study (HNS), which surveyed 4,014 respondents, found that 40 out of 51 items and activities were considered crucial by at least half of the respondents.

“The study aimed to identify what Singaporeans deem to be essential for a normal life in Singapore and examined Singaporeans’ ability to afford such items and activities (across different household income, housing type, and age groups), and their general attitudes and beliefs towards reasons for poverty,” the report said.

Amongst the top essentials were household appliances like refrigerators (99.5%) and washing machines (95.7%). Digital tools also ranked high, with 93.3% of respondents viewing smartphones with data plans and 88.6% viewing home broadband plans as essential. 

Social activities such as family bonding outside the home (90.4%) and free time for hobbies (86.4%) were also prioritised. However, higher expenditure leisure activities were seen as less crucial. For instance, dining out at restaurants at least once a month was considered essential by 62.1%, whilst an annual vacation to Southeast Asia was seen as necessary by 56.3%.

Items and activities with lower essentiality ratings included extra-curricular lessons for children such as private tuition (48.6%) and private enrichment classes (29.5%), domestic help (33.1%), and certain leisure activities such as annual staycations (27.4%) and streaming services (37.5%).

The study also found that individuals living in smaller housing types were less likely to view some items as essential. Additionally, higher costs were linked to lower essentiality ratings, with private tuition being less frequently deemed essential compared to tuition provided by self-help groups.

Meanwhile, relative deprivation affected one-third of respondents, who reported being deprived of an average of four essential items. Factors such as housing type and household income played significant roles in determining relative deprivation.

Despite this, 27 out of 40 essential items had less than 3% of respondents unable to afford them. The top three items with the highest rates of relative deprivation were emergency savings of six months' expenses, emergency savings of three months' expenses, and an annual overseas vacation to Southeast Asia.

Additionally, the study revealed that a majority of respondents attributed poverty to personal circumstances and spending habits, with 71.5% believing it is due to poor financial decisions. Conversely, fewer respondents attributed poverty to external factors like bad luck (21.7%) or divine will (16.9%).

Conducted from May 2022 to February 2023, the study was led by Prof. Paulin Straughan, Director of the SMU Centre for Research on Successful Ageing (ROSA), and Dr. Mathew Mathews, Head of the Social Lab and Principal Research Fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS).