VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 16 (UPI) -- A U.N. report released Friday says urban slum dwellers in developing countries are as badly off if not worse than their rural counterparts.
The UN-Habitat in its annual World's Cities Report said the world's 1 billion slum dwellers are more likely to die earlier, experience more hunger and disease, attain less education and have fewer chances of employment than those urban residents who do live in a slum. The report was issued at the World Urban Forum session in Vancouver, Canada.
"This report provides concrete evidence that there are two cities within one city -- one part of the urban population that has all the benefits of urban living, and the other part, the slums and squatter settlements, where the poor often live under worse conditions than their rural relatives," said UN-Habitat Executive Director Anna Tibaijuka.
The report comes at a time when the world is forecast to have an urban population exceeding rural population beginning next year. Most of this urban growth will be absorbed by cities of the developing world, which are least equipped to deal with rapid urbanization.
