In the city and in most town centres in Singapore, you can’t walk five minutes without passing by a fast food restaurant or coffee joint. And getting cash in a hurry is not a problem with an ATM in easy reach of most places. But can you imagine a Singapore without a single ATM or Fast food restaurant? Such a Singapore did exist… in 1965.

Through some old news clippings, Uncle Dicko takes us back to 1965 and 1990 and explores how things have changed in those 25 years.

Just look at the number of items listed with “zero” in 1965! How much did a Mercedes S 200 cost in ’65? Only S$ 12,950 ! No COE and other taxes back then. Per Capita GNP was S$ 1,687 and by 1990 this had risen to S$17,910! If we were to calculate the latest updates for 2009 our GNP per capita should be above S$30 k!

Number of fast food restaurants in 1965 = 0 ( NIL ). No MacDonalds, KFC, Burger King etc. By 1990 there were 115. Today ??? Wearing spectacles in 1965… 8.5 %. In 1990 it rose to a scary….41 % !!! Today?… I dare not give a figure.

Makes you wonder: How much more has changed from 1990 to today? One thing’s for sure, the pace of change in the last 50 years have been nothing short of breathtaking. What do you miss most from the past?  Has our high cost of living taken away the simpler things in life? Read about Singapore’s changes from 1965 to 1990 in Uncle Dicko’s post here.