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Regional
Page
By
2020 the developing countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin
America will be home to some 75% of all urban dwellers,
and to eight of the anticipated nine mega-cities with
populations in excess of 20 million. It is expected that
by 2020, 85% of the poor in Latin America, and about
40-45% of the poor in Africa and Asia will be concentrated
in towns and cities. Many of those who migrate to
the urban areas are not accommodated for, leaving them to
settle (sometimes illegally) in the marginal areas or
shantytowns of cities and towns. In 2001, Asia had
554 million shantytown dwellers, or 60 percent of the
world's total; Africa had 187 million shantytown dwellers
(20 percent of the world's total), while Latin America and
the Caribbean had 128 million shantytown dwellers (14
percent of the world's total).* Europe and other
developed countries had 54 million shantytown dwellers, or
6 percent of the world's total.
According to
the UN-HABITAT estimates indicate that in 2001, 924
million people, or 31.6 percent of the world's urban
population, lived in shantytowns. In developing regions,
shantytown dwellers account for 43 percent of the urban
population, compared to 6 percent of the urban population
in developed regions. Furthermore, the UNDP
estimated that 800 million people were working in urban
agriculture in 1996. It is quite clear that
urbanization is an increasing trend and urban agriculture
is a means to alleviating some of the problems and complexities
of urban living, such as food security and income
generation.
*( statistics taken from
UN-Habitat)
View country
profiles and maps from the
country sites where Urban Harvest is working. Click on the particular
region for more detailed information.
Africa
Asia Latin
America
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