Singapore’s Sand Problem

The Asianometry Podcast

Sand. It’s coarse and rough and irritating and yet we just can’t get enough of it.

In 2018, Singapore was the world's biggest importer of sand by value. Each year, the country consumes over 5 tons of sand per resident.

Over the past twenty years, they have imported over 500 million tons of sand.

And with these sand imports, Singapore has created massive amounts of wealth for itself and its people.

But the sand has to come from somewhere. Its mass removal has big environmental impacts, and has opened the country up to criticism.

But is it even possible to replace sand? That’s what we are going to talk about in this video.