Page 37 - Life & Land Use on the Bahrain Islands (Curtis E Larsen)

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agricultural areas. Housing is in short supply (Llewelyn-Davis et al. 1975) and this
problem will intensify. To reinforce the already heavy demands for land, there are
ongoing social changes visible in recent census data. Table 2 shows a reduction in
the number of households living in each dwelling. At the same time, young
Bahraini men underline the difficulty in finding a wife satisfied with living as a
part of the husband's extended family. Such figures and comments point to a
demand for more single household dwellings. The clear alternative is to increase
the number of individual residences and hence add pressure on existing land. These
housing demands are expressed in a record of increasing land values in the most
favored areas. The same report shows that land values along the major
transportation corridors doubled each year for the period 1969-75.

TABLE 2
CHANGE IN HOUSEHOLDS PER DWELLING 1965-71

Households per dwelling 1965 1971

No. No. % No. %
1 23,082 87.8 29,102 93.7
2 2,292 8.7 1,451 4.7
3 587 2.2 334 1.1
4 206 0.8 105 0.3
5 & over 133 0.6 53 0.7
Total Dwellings 26,300 100.1 31,045 100.0

In addition to population growth, Bahrain is faced with the increasing
growth of neighboring Saudi Arabia. Although it is difficult to assess the influence
of this growth upon Bahrain, it is sufficient to point out that much of the island's
imported foods are transported by truck from Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. These
goods must, of course, cross Saudi Arabia. Also of note is the ongoing construction
of a connecting causeway between the northwest coast of Bahrain and the mainland