On Monday, Aug. 19, results of a YouGov survey on Singaporeans’ views of death and afterlife showed that respondents felt good about their lives and would die happy, regardless of their income bracket, while most don’t want to be immortal.
The YouGov survey on existentialist matters of death (and what comes after) pooled a nationally representative group of 1,106 Singaporeans.
Dying happy
When asked how they would feel about their lives if death came suddenly, the majority of respondents said they would die happy and content with their lives. Poorer respondents seemed to feel the same about their lives as richer respondents, despite the difference in income.
Regarding dying happy, all three groups had relatively similar responses—45 percent of high-income earners and 39 percent of low and middle-income earners said they would feel happy about their lives if they died tomorrow.
It cited High-income earners as those with incomes over S$8,000 per month, and they made up over one-third of the survey respondents.
The survey listed Middle-income earners as those with incomes between S$4,000 to S$8,000, and they comprised about one-third of participants.
Low-income earners were classified as those with incomes under S$4,000 a month, and they counted up to nearly 40 percent of the respondents.
Overall, 40 percent of the survey’s respondents said they would die happy. Meanwhile, a little over one-third said they would die unhappy, and one-quarter could not decide.
Immortality’s overrated
The survey also touched on immortality. Who wants to live forever?
The results showed that on average, the ideal age to live would be 84 years old.
When asked if they would want to live forever, 75 percent of the respondents said no, while immortality appealed to 25 percent, mostly younger respondents.
Of the younger respondents (aged 18 to 24), 40 percent said they’d like being immortal, while only 20 percent of older respondents (aged 55 and above) were keen on living forever.
Fear of death
When asked the age-old question “Are you afraid to die?”, an interesting one-third of respondents said yes. One-third said they did not fear death, and the last one-third professed to have neutral opinions on the matter.
Older respondents came out as less afraid of death than their younger counterparts, with half saying they were not afraid of dying, as compared to one quarter of younger respondents.
Life after death
The million-dollar questions “What happens after we die?” and “Is there an afterlife?” were also posed to respondents.
Over half of all Singaporeans in the survey said they believed that there is some form of life after death, from believing in heaven and hell to reincarnation.
Those who believe that there is a heaven and a hell numbered 32 percent. Those who believe in rebirth and reincarnation made up 15 percent of respondents, and 6 percent believe that humans turn into spirits after they die.
YouGov specifically reported that one in ten Singaporeans were of the belief they are going to hell after they die.
Around one-third of respondents said they had no idea what comes after death, while 18 percent said nothing happens after death. /TISG