Improving the lives of slum dwellers

Posted on | April 8, 2010 | No Comments

227 million people worldwide have been able to move out of slum areas to better living conditions since 2000, according to a new report from UN Habitat.

This positive development means that the Millennium Development target of improving the lives of 100 million slum dwellers before 2015 has been surpassed. In countries such as China and India, extensive improvements of slum areas have already begun – but a lot remains to be done, not least because the “absolute number” of slum dwellers has actually increased by 100 million people since 2000, largely due to migration from the countryside to larger cities. In fact, a majority of the world’s population (around 51%) now live in urban areas – in sub-Saharan Africa, 62% of the urban population still live in slums.

The full report can be found here.

Source: UN Habitat.

Written by Fanny Johansson

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