Proportion of urban population living in slums, informal settlements or inadequate housing
Last updated on 1 February 2022
This indicator is currently classified as Tier I. The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) is the Custodian agency for this indicator.
Unit of measure: The indicator is unitless, expressing a ratio between the number of people living in households who do not meet one or more of the basic housing conditions and the total population (%), Ratio between the number of households with net monthly expenditure on housing exceeding 30% of the total monthly income and the total population (%), Ratio between the number of households with approved municipal permits and the total population (%)
Official indicator data
The criteria defining slums, informal settlements and inadequate housing include access to water, access to sanitation, sufficient living area, overcrowding, structural quality, durability and location, security of tenure, affordability, accessibility, and cultural adequacy.
* Select "year" below to see the most recent data for more countries.
Other related indicators on the Land Portal
In addition to the official indicator data, the following indicators provide information concerning urban land administration, access to feasible and affordable formalization, and efforts to improve informal settlements.
| Indicator | Min-Max Number of years |
Countries / Obs | Min / Max Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Formalization of urban residential housing is feasible and affordable | |||
| Individual land in urban areas is (i) recorded and (ii) mapped | |||
| Process to improve informal settlements exists | |||
| Urban Population |
Library Resources
Volume 10 Issue 3
Informal settlements represent a challenging operational context for local government service providers due to precarious contextual conditions. Location choice and land procurement for public infrastructure raise the complicated question: who has the right to occupy, control, and use a piece of land in informal settlements? There is currently a dearth of intelligence on how to identify well-located land for public infrastructure, spatially and with careful consideration for safeguarding the claimed rights and preventing conflicts.
Vol 4, No 1: January 2021
Abstract: To avoid illegal occupation of people in areas where construction is forbidden and the development of informal settlements, municipal authorities must anticipate city planning. The implementation of layouts and cadastral plans, plays a broad range of uses in: taxation, land development, land registration, urban planning and design of infrastructure necessary to improve the living conditions of the population. This paper aims to demonstrate that, the integration of images of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is an alternative solution to the production of cadastral maps.
A Webinar Report
The spread of COVID-19 in South Africa and other countries in the region has again brought to the fore the fact that very dense, under-serviced, mostly informal, settlements are not healthy places to live. They are also places where the spread of a disease is difficult to prevent or manage.
The kind of emergency response that was required to address the imminent spread of COVID-19 highlighted the widespread vulnerability of the poorest, compounded by highly unequal access to services and ongoing unhealthy living conditions.
Volume 9 Issue 4
The purpose of this study is to analyze the influence of slum development, community poverty, and community behavior on environmental degradation in the Tallo river basin in Makassar City and to analyze the effects of natural resource conservation, economic empowerment, community capacity building on the productivity of economic enterprises and ecosystem-based sustainability. This study uses a qualitative-quantitative approach in sequence. Data were obtained through observation, surveys, and documentation.
Vol 2, No 2: May 2019
The complexity of tenure claims in the informal settlements has been difficult to incorporate into the formal systems owing to their dynamic and continuously changing nature. Innovative tools are therefore required to capture these claims. This requires the development of a cadastral data model specifically for informal settlements that would document such claims to make it easier to manage the current situation as well as prepare for future formalization processes such as regularization or relocation.
News and Blogs
As it was widely reported in the newspapers of August 12, 2021, the government in partnership with NMB Bank, has launched a five-year Plot Loan scheme to enable land owners in informal settlements to survey and get title to their land. This was in part a result of the realisation that land owners were finding it difficult to foot the cost of surveying, registering and obtaining title deeds.
We should recognise that people in informal settlements have the same right to share the city with the same dignity and equality as other residents. Without the active participation of informal settlement residents in upgrading projects, any upgrading plans proposed are destined to flop.
THE Municipality of Otjiwarongo has started profiling its informal settlements to better plan and upgrade the areas for their residents.
Social watchdogs and development activists in Rajshahi unequivocally called for safeguarding the marginal and other rootless populations for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
They mentioned that the present government had been working relentlessly to attain the Sustainable Development Goals. Emphasis should be given on proper and adequate rehabilitation of the vulnerable population, they said. All government and non-government entities concerned should come forward and work together to this end.
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Indicator details
United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat)
UN-Habitat is the United Nations programme working towards a better urban future.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment.
UNEP work encompasses: