Population, territory and sustainable development

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The need to design ad hoc interventions for each settlement was brought to light by global
programmes and studies that found substantial heterogeneity among slums. This is due not only to the
nature of the population or its ties to the surroundings, but also to factors that would appear, by definition,
to be common to all informal settlements: non-permanent structures, absence of services, irregular tenure,
lack of facilities and roads, and so on (UN-HABITAT, 2008). This diversity arises because the
settlements become consolidated over time as resources are accumulated, inhabitants are mobilized and
State actions are taken. In many cases, this process leads to integration with the formal city. The
settlements thus cease to be areas of misery, exclusion and legal insecurity, although they usually remain
poor and sometimes maintain their initial identity (or stigma) as a land invasion or squatter settlement.
In the late 1990s, census microdata began to be used to support innovative and comprehensive
slum intervention programmes, such as the successful Chile Barrio programme. Some methodological
studies in the mid-2000s enhanced these procedures, and slums in several Latin American cities were
identified, quantified and classified (Candia, 2005 and 2007; Rodríguez, 2003). The main conclusions of
the empirical analysis carried out in these studies included confirmation of sociodemographic diversity
among informal settlements and a change in the inhabitants’ place of origin to mostly city natives, not
migrants as during the metropolitan boom (1950-1980).
Table VIII.8
WORLD (MAJOR REGIONS): URBAN POPULATION LIVING IN SLUMS
(Percentages)
Percentage of urban population living in slums a 1990 2000 2010
Developing regions 46.1 39.3 32.7
North Africa 34.4 20.3 13.3
Sub-Saharan Africa 70.0 65.0 61.7
Latin America and the Caribbean 33.7 29.2 23.5
East Asia 43.7 37.4 28.2
South Asia 57.2 45.8 35.0
South-East Asia 49.5 39.6 31.0
Western Asia 22.5 20.6 24.6
Oceania 24.1 24.1 24.1
Source: United Nations, The Millennium Development Goals Report 2011 [online] http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Resources/
Static/Data/2011%20Stat%20Annex.pdf.
a
Refers to the urban population living in households with at least one of the following four characteristics: (a) lack of access to
improved sources of drinking water; (b) lack of access to improved sanitation; (c) overcrowding (three or more persons per
room); and (d) dwellings made of non-durable material. These new slum figures are not comparable with estimates published
previously where all households using latrines were classed as substandard. Here, households with pit latrines are classed as
having improved sanitation.
2. Basic services deficit
The Millennium Development Goals include other targets related to habitability of living spaces: namely,
access to potable water, sanitation and secure tenure, all of which are critical in urban areas, where the
alternatives are unhealthy and dangerous. Census data for the 2000s show that in the 16 countries where
data are available, over 90% of the urban population has access to electricity in their homes, and in
several of the countries the figure approaches 100% (see table VIII.9). Access to potable water varies
among the countries. Only in three countries (Chile, Costa Rica and Mexico) does over 90% of the