Singapore: Singaporeans must have to pay £88,000 for the privilege of owning a car, and that sum does not include the price of the automobile itself. Due to soaring costs, most middle-class Singaporeans are unable to afford cars, making the city-state the most costly place in the world to drive.
An approximately 950,000-capacity certificate of entitlement (COE) was first introduced in 1990 to regulate the number of vehicles on the road. A bid is required for one of these certificates, which are now four times more expensive than they were in 2020.
When COE, registration costs, and taxes are added up, the price of a Toyota Camry Hybrid in Singapore is currently £151,000, which is five times more expensive than in the UK. Additionally, it is double the median yearly household earnings of £72,716.
Some Singaporeans are selling the automobiles they acquired - while COE costs were cheap - to make a profit due to persistent inflation and a faltering economy.
"There is a need to lower one's aspiration from achieving the 'good life' to settling with a 'good enough life'," said sociologist Tan Ern Ser.