As more cities adapt to urbanisation, one of the negative by-products is the increasing pockets of poverty which develop in the form of slums.
The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) defines a slum as a residential area that completely lacks basic amenities needed for human survival like sanitation, potable water, electricity etc.
Slums have substandard housing, very overcrowded, unhealthy and most times, are situated in very hazardous locations supporting the notion that urbanisation has little contribution to the development and improvement of citizens’ lifestyle.
10 countries with the largest slum population in the world
Using data from the World Bank and the Participatory Slum Upgrading Program (PSUP) by the UN-Habitat, below are the top 10 countries with the highest slum population:
| S/N | Company | Population | % In Slums |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Sudan | 2.1M | 94% |
| 2 | Chad | 3.9M | 82% |
| 3 | DRC | 42.4M | 78% |
| 4 | Sudan | 15.7M | 74% |
| 5 | Afghanistan | 10.1M | 73% |
| 6 | Niger | 3.7M | 70% |
| 7 | CAR | 2.0M | 69% |
| 8 | Comoros | 224K | 69% |
| 9 | Benin | 6.1M | 68% |
| 10 | Madagascar | 10.9M | 67% |
A 2020 UN data mapped out three regions with the largest concentration of slums in the world which include Central and Southern Asia, Eastern and South-Eastern Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa.
While the two Asian regions had a combined total of 662 million people living in slums, Sub-Saharan Africa had 230 million.
Although Nigeria is not listed as having a high slum population, a World Bank report puts the country’s population in slums at 49% indicating a thriving growth of slums as cities embrace urbanisation.
The UN says over one billion people globally reside in overcrowded urban slums and this figure is projected to reach three billion people by 2050 as people migrate to cities in search of better opportunities.
Due to the affordability of housing in the slums, Individuals with no means of survival see such locations as the first port of call when migrating to the "big" cities from the underdeveloped rural areas with hopes of improving their lifestyle.