With Singapore's total population rising to 6.11 million in 2025, do people feel like the country is getting too crowded? We spoke to people on the streets and Dr Woo Jun Jie from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy to hear their thoughts.
00:00Having to squeeze in the bus every morning, long queues everywhere, it's actually not too hard to feel like Singapore is way too crowded.
00:08With a population density of about 8,300 people per square kilometer, that's actually not too far from the truth.
00:17But even then, even though Singapore is relatively small, our land mass has been growing through land reclamation in response to this population growth.
00:26And there's also been a lot of efforts with regards to urban planning to make places feel less crowded and more liveable.
00:33Even so, do Singaporeans still feel like this island is too crowded? Let's find out.
00:43I think Singapore's current population is about 6 million.
00:47Overpopulated. Very overpopulated.
00:49Yeah, I feel like it's always crowding.
00:51I feel like currently Singapore is overcrowded.
00:54So like BTOs, like I heard from many of my relatives that it's hard to get a number.
01:01I feel like as a foodie, you don't get a lot of places where there's like empty seats.
01:06So you obviously have to find somewhere else.
01:09And like shopping malls get a little bit too crowded and you're like, okay, maybe I'm not going to go there anymore.
01:14It's in the public transport system where MRT is always crowded.
01:19I think it used to be during peak period, but now it's like 90% of the time.
01:25Honestly, I feel like it's just the central area because at my neighbourhood, I wouldn't even know if it's even crowded because I don't really see much people around my neighbourhood.
01:33So I feel like it's only the central area.
01:35I think it's gotten more crowded, but not just our like local population because like a lot of foreigners have come into Singapore.
01:42So when there's too many people in the country, like sometimes like living can feel a bit too like rushed.
01:49But of course like since there's a lot of people, then like you tend to like not try not to socialise as much if you're in a smaller community.
01:56Yeah, I think there's definitely a lot of problems because you have to upgrade the infrastructure as well.
02:01Like for example, like the transport system, there's going to be a lot more people and then like it'll be harder to maintain also.
02:08So which causes like a lot of troubles like congestion, like at escalators, at leaves, like tapping out even.
02:16I think we should still have a growing population, but the only problem is about like housing, having enough housing to like accommodate for like the more growing population.
02:28Yes, because it brings in business, but also no for locals because it just turns us off.
02:36Growing population for us hopefully means we can get more opportunities for more jobs.
02:42But we kind of need to slow down a little bit so that we could enjoy Singapore more with the small space that we have here.
02:49I think I mean in terms of our generation Singaporeans, yes maybe, because a lot of our generation are all the elderly now.
02:55Like I feel like living costs will go up because there's too many people.
02:59Then like sometimes people like migrate overseas because maybe it's cheaper.
03:02If everyone is just like around the same age, so means there's a lot more like older people,
03:08then there won't be much younger manpower, which we, something we desperately need because like too much of the older generation would cause a lot of problems in the long run.
03:18I don't think there's any problems with us growing in numbers, at least, because that just means that we at least have more,
03:27could be more people that also become localised.
03:30I would much rather we have more people coming in than to have not enough.
03:33So we've heard from the people. Now let's go talk to Dr. Wu Jinjie from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy to find out how Singapore plans for a larger population.
03:45So I'm here today with Dr. Wu Jinjie. So our topic today, we're going to be talking about population, specifically overpopulation.
03:53So how can you tell when a city is overpopulated?
03:57A city becomes overpopulated when it's the number of citizens they have in a city, it can no longer be sustained by the infrastructure, the services that the city provides, which could include housing, transport, utilities, for example.
04:10So is Singapore overpopulated?
04:14No, I would say that we are far from overpopulated. Homelessness rate is very low in Singapore.
04:19Most people have access to housing, public housing and affordable public housing.
04:23In public transport, yes, like most cities, we do get a little bit crowded during peak periods, but like you said, we're not being shoved onto the train, like in Japan, nor are we clinging onto the sides of the train as it moves along.
04:35So we're not facing those issues. So we are quite far from overpopulation.
04:39There is, though, a sense from a lot of Singaporeans or people living in Singapore that things are getting really crowded.
04:47Is there a sort of distinction between the idea of overpopulation and overcrowding in a country?
04:54Well, there is some distinction. Overpopulation has to do with how many people there are in a city and whether the city can sustain them.
05:01Now, crowdedness is also, it's not simply a phenomenon of number of people in a given space. It's also a matter of perception.
05:09Now, we all have different standards of how crowded we like a place to be or like a place not to be.
05:14And to ask the question of whether a city is crowded may not be entirely fair.
05:18We should ask questions of when is the city crowded and where is it crowded.
05:23I think in general, when we walk around our neighbourhoods, our malls, we are not crowded to the point where we have no space to get into these spaces or to make meaningful use of these spaces.
05:32So in Singapore, we plan our towns in such a way that there are enough amenities, there are enough schools, supermarkets, malls within that town so that the residents have access to these things.
05:42So it is very deliberate.
05:45And when you think of Singapore, it's not just one island but clusters of small towns that form Singapore.
05:50I remember a few years back, Liu Taike talked about the need to plan for Singapore to have 10 million inhabitants.
05:57And there was a huge public uproar in response to that.
06:00I think when Professor Liu was talking about that, he was coming at it from a very technical perspective.
06:05As an urban planner, as an architect, yes, you can house a certain number of people technically in any plot of land.
06:11But as a social scientist and a public policy person, I would say that we have to do this gradually or we have to do this to find the right balance.
06:18That balance may not be 10 million, that balance may not even be 7 million.
06:22We honestly don't know at this point.
06:24We are at this point where the economy is growing well, population is ageing, but there is also all these technological factors that are disrupting parts of our economy.
06:34So the question of how many workers do we need in the economy, we can't say for sure at this inflection point.
06:39But what is important is that even as Singapore grows, we grow in tandem with public expectations, with public perceptions of crowdedness and comfort.
06:49And we develop the city to provide the comfort first before we grow.
06:52Which is what I think the URA has been doing quite well over the past decade or two.
06:56For urban planning, it's important to plan for comfort.
06:58This is the reason why we don't feel that overcrowdedness that you might feel in Tokyo or in London or New York.
07:04So planning ahead helps to manage our population dynamics.
07:08Whether the population is growing or not, at what pace it is growing.
07:11It is important that we plan the infrastructure, the housing, the public transport in such a way that we always have more than what we need at this point in time.
07:19Why does Singapore need to keep growing its population?
07:24Why do we always need more people here?
07:27First of all, Singapore as a start had a very small population and compounded to the fact is that we have an ageing population.
07:33We do need people to sustain the economy.
07:36The elderly do need access to social welfare, to medical services, which is funded by the state as well.
07:42So from a purely economic perspective, we do need a population that can sustain itself.
07:47That means that as it gets older and older, we do need more young people as well.
07:51We're not saying that we need to grow indefinitely, but we need to find a balance where the economy, the workforce, can sustain the rest of the non-working population.
07:59And there's a second factor here. Even if we don't want to grow the population rapidly, inevitably Singapore is a really attractive place for people to come and work and live.
08:10People are coming and we can't put a gate at the door and say, no, no, all of you are not coming here.
08:15I think it will be detrimental for Singapore if we are no longer attractive to anyone, whether businesses or population, and we have a shrinking population.
08:22I think that would be the opposite direction of where we want to go as an economy.
08:27Thank you very much, Dr Wu. Really appreciate your time.
08:29Thanks for coming to the Lely Kuan Yew School.
08:33So, I can't help but feel that the solution to overpopulation and crowding in Singapore is for everyone to get more days to work from home.
08:43But seriously, I have to say that I think, especially compared to a lot of the countries in the region, we're doing pretty well with regards to urban planning and design so that we can make the place feel more livable even though there are more people.
08:59And I do think that as long as the population increase is gradual rather than a sudden burst, we should be okay for now.
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