One of the government's most important roles was the oversight of land use and development. This was a particularly critical issue given the country's minute size and dense population a total land area of 636 square kilometers and a population density of 4,166 per square kilometer made Singapore one of the most densely populated countries in the world (see Population , ch. 2). As pressure for economic growth increased, optimization of land use became more critical.

Data as of December 1989