plural/singular question regarding sentence form

This is similar to my question in my last post, but slightly different still.

Between the following two sentences, which one is more preferable?

1) "statues of stateless North Korean residents in Japan are improving"
2) "status of stateless North Korean residents in Japan is improving"

There is a status for each stateless North Korean resident in Japan, but they are regarded (or are) as being a same level.. so should 2) be used in this case?

(Also, please correct me if there are grammatical errors in this post itself)

(Edit: "plural/singular question regarding sentence form" or "plural/singular question regarding a sentence form"?)

Thanks.