Slumworld?

Social justice news
October 2003

Housing: An American dream moves out of reach
Immigrant workers' 'freedom ride' ends in NYC
Leaders lament U.S. withdrawal from Liberia
Slumworld?
Uninsured numbers rise—again—in 2002
Who's poorer now?

Slumworld?
The world's urban slums are growing with the number people living in slum conditions now at the 1 billion mark—making up 32 per cent of the global urban population, according to UN-HABITAT’s new Global Report on Human Settlements 2003.

The report published this month entitled, The Challenge of Slums, says the crisis is such that the world will see this figure double in the next 30 years unless a concerted effort is undertaken to alleviate the situation. The report's major concern is the growing challenge presented by this crisis. The world's rural population has reached its peak, and almost all further population growth will be absorbed by urban settlements—a critical situation recognised by very few governments, cities and other agencies.

This movement towards "full urbanisation", which has already been completed in Europe and in North and most of South America, means that most new population growth will be absorbed by the cities of the developing world. Three quarters of this growth will be in cities with populations of 1 to 5 million people, and in smaller cities of under 500,000 people. The report finds that, alarmingly, there is currently little or no planning to accommodate these people or provide them with services.

"The locus of global poverty is moving to cities, a process now recognized as the urbanization of poverty," says United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in a foreword to the report. "Without concerted action on the part of the municipal authorities, national governments, civil society actors, and the international community, the number of slum dwellers is likely to increase in most developing countries. And if no serious action is taken, the number of slum dwellers worldwide is projected to rise over the next 30 years to about 2 billion."

In developing regions, slum dwellers account for 43 per cent of the population in contrast to about 6 per cent in more developed regions. In sub-Saharan Africa the proportion of urban residents in slums is highest at 71.9 per cent, according to the report. Oceania had the lowest at 24.1 per cent. South-central Asia accounted for 58 per cent, east Asia for 36.4 per cent, western Asia for 33.1 per cent, Latin America and the Caribbean for 31.9 per cent, north Africa for 28.2 per cent and southeast Asia for 28 per cent.

Although the concentration of slum dwellers is highest in African cities, in numbers alone, Asia accounts for some 60 per cent of the world’s urban slum residents. Rapid urbanization and the growth of slums is increasingly becoming a concern to governments the world over. In fact Target 11 of Millennium Development Goal 7 is to "significantly improve" the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by the year 2020.

"Slums represent the worst of urban poverty and inequality. Yet the world has the resources, know-how, and power to reach the target established in the Millennium Declaration. It is my hope that this report, and the best practises it identifies, will enable all actors involved to overcome the apathy and lack of political will that have been a barrier to progress, and move ahead with greater determination and knowledge in our common effort to help the world's slum dwellers to attain lives of dignity, prosperity and peace," said Annan.

Back to page top