Singapore

Question 1

Singapore - basic information

Answer 1

• Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state
• located on 64 islands, including the main island, Pulau Ujong

Ethnic groups:
Chinese 74.2%, Malay 13.7%, Indian 8.9%, other 3.2% (2021 est.)

Languages:
English (official) 48.3%, Mandarin (official) 29.9%, other Chinese dialects (includes Hokkien, Cantonese) 8.7%, Malay (official) 9.2%, Tamil (official) 2.5%, other 1.4%.

Question 2

Land reclamation

Answer 2

Land reclamation projects have increased Singapore’s land area from 580 km2 in the 1960s to 710 km2 by 2015, an increase of some 22% (130 km2).

In 2010 Singapore imported almost 15 million tons of sand for its land reclamation projects.

in 2016 Singapore switched to using polders for reclamation.

Question 3

Perankan culture

Answer 3

In Singapore, the term “Peranakan” generally refers to a person of mixed Chinese and Malay/Indonesian heritage.

Question 4

Plastic waste

Answer 4

• people in Singapore use about 1.76 billion plastic items each year. This figure includes 820 million plastic bags from supermarkets, 467 million bottles, and 473 million plastic disposable items like takeaway containers.
• in 2021, plastic waste in Singapore was the largest waste disposed of, with 924 000 tonnes, and only 6% of the 982 200 tonnes of plastic waste generated was recycled.
• From mid-2023, shoppers at most supermarkets will need to pay at least five cents for each disposable carrier bag