Housing Explanation

The world’s population stands at 5.7 billion people. By the year 2025 the population could reach 8.06 billion. Nearly five billion of those people--practically the entire world’s population today--will live in the world’s cities and urban areas, according to United Nations projections.

The toll that such massive urbanization will take on the environment, local and global economies, and governmental abilities to provide even the most basic human services will be tremendous and potentially devastating.

Over 100 million people in our world today have no housing. Millions more people, about 25% of the world’s population, face a severe housing problem. They live in homes without adequate sanitation, with an irregular electricity supply, built out of flimsy materials, and without adequate security. Millions more live in solid and serviced accommodation but in overcrowded conditions. Housing problems affect both large and small cities.

Apart from families living in shacks, overcrowded tenements and accommodations without adequate services, millions more have housing problems. They live in houses that do not match their hopes and needs: they have difficulty paying their rent or mortgage, they have a long journey to work, their home is too small, they wish to own a house rather than to rent.

How many people around the world have no housing?

What kind of home does your family live in? A house? An apartment?

Do you have your own bedroom? Do you share your bedroom with a sibling?