sustainable development 20 years on from the ... - José Eli da Veiga

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Figure I.11
LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN: URBAN POPULATION LIVING IN SLUMS, 1990-<strong>20</strong>10
(Millions of persons and percentages of the urban population) a
116
100
114
112
110
90
80
70
60
108
50
106
104
102
40
30
<strong>20</strong>
10
100
1990 1995 <strong>20</strong>00 <strong>20</strong>05 <strong>20</strong>07 <strong>20</strong>10
0
Number of persons living in slums
Proportion of the urban population living in slums
Source: United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), State of the World’s Cities <strong>20</strong>10/<strong>20</strong>11. Cities for All:
Bridging the Urban Divide, Earthscan, <strong>20</strong>10.
a
Figures are based on estimates, since not all the countries have data on informal settlements and the interpretation of the
indicators may vary from one country to another.
Estimates for the past <strong>20</strong> <strong>years</strong> show considerable achievements in Colombia, Nicaragua and
Peru, where both the proportion of the urban population living in slums and the absolute number of slumdwellers
have fallen, the latter by 25%. The numbers of slum-dwellers in Mexico fell by 15%. Both
Argentina and the Dominican Republic were able to reduce the absolute numbers despite strong
population growth in the period. In Brazil, the combined effect of infrastructure investments and social
housing policies reduced the proportion of slum-dwellers from 37% of the population in 1990 to 28% in
<strong>20</strong>07, though this effort was insufficient to reduce the numbers in absolute terms (see table I.3). The
greatest contrast between achievements in terms of the percentage of the urban population living in slums
and the absolute figures are seen in the data for Haiti, where the number of slum-dwellers has more than
doubled since 1990.