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Urban populations are expected to grow at a rate of 1.8 percent per year, as compared with rural areas, which will grow by 0.1 percent.
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South America has the highest urbanization rates: 80 percent of the population live in cities and 35.5 percent of the urban population live in slums.
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The United Nations estimates that by 2007, one in three urban dwellers will live in poverty.
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2007 marks the year that the world's population will become 50 percent rural and 50 percent urban.
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Slums are home to an estimated 920 million urban dwellers worldwide. One-third of the world's urban population is in need of improved housing.
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Some 35 million new housing units are needed annually--95,000 units daily--to meet the urban housing need alone.
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Approximately 34 percent of Africa is urban with 72 percent of 166 million people living in informal undeveloped settlements.
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Of the 800 million Asians living in poverty, about 250 million live in urban areas, many in unplanned urban settlements.
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In Central Asian republics, half of the urban poor live in slum conditions.
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Latin America and the Caribbean is highly urbanized with nearly 76 percent of the population living in cities. One-third of urban residents, 128 million people, live in slums.
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Approximately 1 million people are moving to the cities of the world each week, competing with others for jobs, public services and housing.
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Ninety-five percent of urban growth will occur in developing countries. |
