New Delhi, Aug 27 (IBNS) The Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation & Tourism, Selja Thursday said that what is striking in the trends of urbanization in developing countries is that urban poverty is increasingly becoming a pervasive feature in cities.

Addressing the meeting of Board of Governors at Oslo, Norway today she said, the focus of poverty is shifting to cities, leading to a phenomenon of urbanization of poverty.

“As regards the world urban scenario, the 21st Century would be an urban century with a massive urbanization witnessed by the developing countries. The global urban population was estimated by the United Nations at 3.2 billion in 2005, nearly 4 times the number in 1950. This figure represented 49 per cent of the world’s total population. Asia accounted for a share of about 50 per cent of the global urban population,” said Selija.

“The number of urban dwellers is projected to have crossed the 50 per cent mark in 2008 and expected to increase to 4 billion in 2018 and 5 billion by 2030. The world will have about 60 per cent of its population living in cities and towns by 2030. By the same year, the urban population in the developing regions would be about 3.9 billion. This will be nearly four times as large as the figure of 1 billion urban residents in the developed regions in 2030. Thus, the developing countries will witness unprecedented increases in their urban population in the coming decades – an urban revolution.”

She continued: “As regards the urbanization in Asia, about 50 per cent of the urban residents of the world numbering 1553 million lived in Asia in 2005. The urban population for Asia is projected to grow to 2637 million by 2030. India will then have 873 million urban residents. The 21st century will present an urban revolution sweeping across Asia, including India.”

The minister said rural poverty has long been the world’s most common face of destitution. But urban poverty, closely linked with the mushrooming of slums and squatter settlements, is emerging as an intense, dehumanizing and life-threatening phenomenon.

“The city governments are not able to provide basic services to their rapidly growing urban population, especially the slum-dwellers and the urban poor. These services include safe drinking water, sanitation, solid waste management, affordable housing and public transportation. Even if the rate of urbanization is modest, the massive increase in the absolute number of urban residents, has led many Governments to hold the view that their urbanization is too rapid to cope with.

“Some embarked in the past on policies to control migration and spatial distribution of population. Such policies have failed miserably. Moreover, they are not warranted as migration is an exercise in free choice and further, urbanization has been the engine of growth across the globe.”

Selija said in India, the urban population of the country was about 286 million representing 28 per cent of the country’s total population of 1,029 million. The net addition to urban population during 1991-2001 was of the order of 69 million as against 113 million for rural areas. In percentage terms, the decadal growth of population in rural areas has been much smaller during the decade 1991-2001 at 18.1 per cent compared to 31.5 percent for urban areas.

“The problems that urban India faces are similar to those in other developing countries, with about one-fourth of the urbanites living in slums faced with acute socio-economic deprivation.”

Globally, 715 million people lived in slums in 1990. The figure is estimated to have gone up to 912 million by 2000 and 998 million by 2005. At present, one of three urban residents is considered to be living in slums. If the current trends continue the number of slum dwellers would increase up to 1.4 billion by 2020.

She said the city governments are not able to provide basic services to their rapidly growing urban population, especially the slum-dwellers and the urban poor. These services include safe drinking water, sanitation, solid waste management, affordable housing and public transportation.

“Even if the rate of urbanization is modest, the massive increase in the absolute number of urban residents, has led many governments to hold the view that their urbanization is too rapid to cope with. Some embarked in the past on policies to control migration and spatial distribution of population. Such policies have failed miserably. Moreover, they are not warranted as migration is an exercise in free choice and further, urbanization has been the engine of growth across the globe.”

Selija said a large proportion of the urban poor face social burdens and health problems worse than their non-slum and rural counterparts.

“The problems of urban poverty and slums are so huge and so pervasive, that it is impossible for the national and provincial governments to address them in totality. Thus, there is a case of empowered city governments to address the issues of urban poverty and slums, with focus on inter-governmental and public-private partnerships.

“The principle of subsidiary, which has been adopted by many countries, including the European Union, also suggests that functions like slum development and upgradation are best handled at the local body level. Of course, the national and provincial governments ought to support the efforts of municipalities as the resources and capacities of these local bodies drastically fall short of what is needed,” Selija said.