World Habitat Day 2014

Over the past decade, efforts under the Millennium Development Goals have cut the proportion of people living in slums by more than half. Yet, over the same period, rapid urbanization, especially in the developing world, has seen overall slum populations rise. In some parts of sub-Saharan Africa, as many as 70 per cent of urban dwellers live in slums and informal settlements.

Every year on the first Monday of October we reflect on the state of our human settlements and what we want the cities of our future to look like. This year, the United Nations has chosen to turn the spotlight on the people who live or have lived in informal settlements, listening to “Voices from Slums”.