Urban Poverty in the Global South: Scale and Nature

This book documents how the scale and depth of urban poverty in Africa and much of Asia and Latin America is greatly underestimated because of inappropriate definitions and measurements. The use of inappropriate poverty definitions helps explain why so little attention has been given to urban poverty reduction by aid agencies and development banks. After an introduction (Chapter 1), Chapter 2 discusses how poverty is defined and measured. Most poverty lines are set as monetary amounts – but the inappropriate levels at which they are set (often far less than the costs of food and non-food needs) help explain the paradox of so many statistics, which apparently show relatively little urban poverty despite evidence that shows very large numbers living in poverty. This chapter also discusses how official measurements of urban poverty are made with no dialogue with those who live in poverty and who struggle to live with inadequate incomes, and examines in some detail how the dollar-a-day poverty line (that was chosen for monitoring progress on the Millennium Development Goal) is at the core of why urban poverty is underestimated because the costs of non-food needs are so much higher than this in many urban contexts.

Chapter 3 addresses the question of why health is so poor among low-income urban dwellers, even as so many live in prosperous cities. It describes the very large health burdens associated with urban poverty, including very high infant and child mortality rates, high percentages of malnourished children and large and easily preventable health burdens for children, adolescents and adults. It discusses the causes, including very poor quality and overcrowded living conditions and the lack of provision for safe water, good quality sanitation, health care, schools and emergency services. It also examines the inadequacies in available data on illness, injury and premature death, provision for water and sanitation and the impact on urban poverty of disasters, and how these inadequacies have helped obscure the scale and depth of urban poverty.

Chapter 4 considers the links between poverty and livelihoods and highlights the lack of knowledge and data on these links in the informal economy in which such a large proportion of the urban population work. It draws on a few detailed studies that provide insights into the difficulties faced by those working in the informal economy – for instance, the importance of social networks for obtaining employment and the more powerful local people who either prey on street traders and other own-account workers or demand payment from them. For many households, the home also has great importance as the location for income-earning work – especially for women.

Chapter 5 considers inequality both with regard to income and other deprivations discussed in previous chapters, including housing and living conditions, access to services, the rule of law and voice. Inequalities in these are also reflected in the very large differences in health status and in premature mortality, documented in Chapter 3. This chapter also examines how understanding inequality in urban centres also needs a consideration of spatial inequalities – for instance by neighbourhood – but so often, the data available are from too small a sample to show these.

Chapter 6 considers how urban poverty can be better understood – in all its multiple aspects – and addressed. It highlights how much most of the deprivations that are part of poverty are related to inadequate governance and weak and ineffective local governments. It also stresses the importance of working with and supporting the initiatives and priorities of urban poor groups and their organizations and associations – and the often powerful complementarities between different actions to reduce poverty. In this case, the importance of seeing the resources and capabilities of the urban poor that can contribute much to more effective poverty reduction programmes.