1.4: Densely Populated Case Study: Singapore (Paper 1)

Question 1

Explain the causes of why Singapore is densely populated: (3)

Answer 1

• Singapore land area is 716km2 and only uses 14% of this land for housing. This means the population has to live in a limited amount of space. this leads to the country being very densely populated. (1)
• Singapore has excellent infrastructure and transport system. The MRT (metro) system compromises of 6 lines with all of them passing through the CBD. This causes people to look for/have properties near train stations which makes the country very densely populated. (1)
• Singapore has a tropical climate which lasts throughout the year with average day temperatures ranging between 25-27 degrees. Rain also happens frequently throughout the year. This attracts people to Singapore because they are able to grow crops and therefore the population density is higher. (1)

Question 2

Explain the effects of Singapore having a high population density: (3)

Answer 2

• Because there is a lot of people and land also has to be used for other purposes like industrial parks and recreational areas, only 1% of the land is used for agricultural. This means that most of the food is imported. (1)
• In a day, around 2.7 million passengers use the MRT (metro) system a day. This means that in one day 50% of the population use the MRT. Because of this, this puts pressure on the MRT and on the infrastructure as a whole. (1)
• Because the government is trying to tackle the growing population density by building more apartment blocks, 77% of the population live in apartments. This can reduce the quality of life as not many people live in proper houses. (1)