Increase in Population

The main reason for the decreasing size of living space is the population growth. Population growth is the change in a population over time. As the population of a country increases, more and more people have to live in the same area of land. This, accompanied by the increasing need to build more infrastructures and amenities (ex: shopping malls, schools, recreational parks, etc.) to facilitate the population, leads to the shortage of land. As a result, the amount of area allocated for each residential unit is reduced in order to accommodate more people.

While the population growth rate of the world might have declined (since the peak in 1962 and 1963), the number of birth rate is still very high. In 2013, there are 8000 babies born every hour, meaning that 75 million babies are born every year.

This case of high birth rate is prevalent in less developed countries, and less so in developed ones. Birth rates ranging from 10-20 births per thousand people are considered low, while 40-50 are considered high. In general, countries with high birth rate is low on educational level, has low life expectancy and low living standards. The country with the highest birth rate is Niger, with 51.26 births per 1000 people. In contrast, Japan has a very low birth rate, 7.64 births per 1000 people. 

Another factor contributing to the increase in population is the rise in mortality rate. This is the effect of medical advancements and massive increase in agricultural productivity. With the medical advancements, humans are able to treat once incurable diseases, or prolong the lifespan of a person. Treatments have become cheaper and more easily available to low and middle class families. Increase in agricultural productivity means enough food for all the citizens of a country. The healthier the citizens are, the lower the death rate will be. Since people live longer now, the population of the country increases.

The world’s population rate is expected to still increase in the future. Some predicts the world population will reach 11 billion in 2050. 

Almost all growth will take place in less developed regions. More developed countries, on the contrary, is predicted to have no change in the growth rate. However, this doesn’t mean that the population in more developed countries is not increasing. The United Nations projected and increase in the number of migrations to more developed regions. The net number of international migrants moving to developed countries is predicted to be 98 million.

International immigration became popular because of two reasons: the ‘push’ factor from the country of origin, and the ‘pull’ factor from the destination country. ‘Push’ factors include low wage rates, poor living standards, and oppression. ‘Pull’ factors include available jobs and less work time. The most common ‘pull’ factor is education, although the people are referred as international students rather than immigrants. For example, the number of international students made up 18% of the total students enrolling in local Singapore universities.

My thoughts:

This research information has helped me undestand the problem a bit more. Since our group is dealing with Singapore, a developed country, I have understood more about the condition of the country's population growth.

Singapore is modern and there are few families with many children, as living costs are high. However, it has many senior citizens/elderly and foreign people/students living in the country.

The conclusion i can draw is that for our solution, it may be useful to think of a design for small families, senior citizens, or singles/foreign students.