Top 10 Largest Slums Worldwide

Located in the northwest outskirts of Karachi, Pakistan, is the world's largest slum. Orangi Town in Karachi, Pakistan, was established in 1965, initially as a federal town. Over the years, it has continued to attract people, especially from rural villages. Orangi Town is home to a diverse ethnic group, including Serkis, Sindhis, Bohras, Ismailis, Punjabis, Muhajirs, Pakhtuns, and Kashmiris. A significant issue in Orangi is the lack of sanitation, but after waiting for government intervention, most locals have built their own toilets, and currently, an estimated 96% of households have sanitation facilities.

While not as notorious for poverty as many other slums worldwide, residents of Orangi Town face challenges of lacking basic amenities and services. Water scarcity is one of the most severe issues in Orangi. The town heavily relies on the Hub Dam, which is not reliable in supplying sufficient water. Other channels were found to have many waterborne diseases. Water quality is the culprit for 40% of deaths in Pakistan and the leading cause of child mortality, with 60% of child deaths attributed to diarrheal diseases.

Orangi Town grapples with other issues like overburdened healthcare services. However, it has demonstrated what people can achieve when they collectively join forces, such as when they built a sewerage system in the 1980s. Similar to many slums worldwide, Orangi Town faces a housing crisis, with demand for housing being three times the supply. Approximately 8 to 10 people live in a two-bedroom household in many areas of Orangi Town.

Population: 2.4 million

Dharavi, with a population of approximately 1 million people and an area of about 2.1 km2, is one of the most densely populated places on Earth. Established in 1884 during the British colonial period, Dharavi has seen remarkable growth as the colonial government expelled factories and residents from the nearby city center. Since then, it has witnessed an incredible influx of people from rural India seeking employment in Mumbai.

Dharavi has faced numerous diseases and disasters, including a widespread bubonic plague outbreak in 1896 that claimed over half of Mumbai's population. Many residents are second-generation, with parents who moved there many years ago. According to Lonely Planet, 60% of Mumbai's population resides in slums, and the largest slum is in Dharavi. Dharavi hosts a significant number of small-scale industries, producing garments, embroidered textiles, quality leather goods for export, pottery, and plastics. It is a multi-religious, multicultural, and diverse settlement, considered one of the most literate slums in India with a literacy rate of 69%.

Dharavi consists mostly of closely spaced wooden structures. It gained international fame as the setting for the renowned movie Slumdog Millionaire. The slum lacks proper sewage, drainage, and security. Dharavi is a sprawling labyrinth covering about 5 km2 with narrow alleys, dilapidated buildings, makeshift shanties, and open drains. Interestingly, most residents have access to electricity and gas for cooking. Since the 1950s, there have been periodic proposals for Dharavi's redevelopment, but most of these plans failed due to a lack of financial backing and/or political support.

Population: 1 million people

Ciudad Neza has a population of 1.2 million people. It is an informal settlement near Mexico City, built close to the Distrito Federal. In the mid-20th century migration wave to the urban area, newcomers to Neza erected makeshift wooden and hardboard shanties without electricity, sewage systems, drinking water, schools, or paved roads. The shanty houses stood alongside other tattered shanties, and horse-drawn carts laden with garbage moved past shiny old-style cars. Neza is bleak, lacking schools, transportation, and poor healthcare, considered extremely hazardous, even by Mexican standards.

Although the settlement was planned, developed, and constructed illegally, there is a strong community consciousness as residents collectively provide for their needs. However, Ciudad Neza predominantly needs investment in transportation, employment, and education. Crime and drugs are persistent issues in Ciudad Neza, but they also plague Mexico at large. Ciudad Neza has responded to the needs; it has provided opportunities for people to have housing. It is considered a self-built city model as people have come together to provide what they need.

Population: 1.2 million people

Kawangware in Nairobi, Kenya, situated between Lavington Estate and Da Goretti, is a poor neighborhood with a population ranging from 200,000 to 650,000 people. It is an informal settlement with little to no planning. Many houses have electricity but lack clean water, sewage, and drainage. Over 65% of the adult population is unemployed and lacks access to education; some youths forsake their dreams turning to prostitution or crime to earn a living, while others become pregnant and struggle to survive. Many children in the slum are denied schooling.

Poverty is perhaps the most significant issue in the Kawangware slum; most residents live on less than $2 a day. Government-provided water is not consistently available. Safe drinking water in Kawangware is scarce and expensive. Waterborne diseases, respiratory infections, and malaria are prevalent, as well as many airborne diseases due to inadequate drainage systems. Several health issues are ongoing in Kawangware; one of which is the high incidence of waterborne diseases due to scarce safe drinking water. Respiratory infections, malaria transmitted through inadequate drainage, are also concerning. Moreover, many people in Kawangware test positive for HIV.

Education in Kawangware, Kenya is relatively expensive and a luxury most families cannot afford. Primary schools are free in Kenya, but corruption exists. Secondary schools are not government-sponsored. Many families in Kenya are so impoverished that an estimated 4 out of 10 children drop out before reaching high school, forced to work to support their families. Approximately 1 in 8 Kenyans dies before the age of 8 due to insufficient funds for proper healthcare. Around 30,000 children are forced to live on the streets of Nairobi.

Population: 650,000 people

Kibera is an extremely impoverished suburb of Nairobi with nearly 1 million residents spread across an area of only 2.5 km2. Its origins trace back to 1900 when British colonialists decided that Africans should live separately from Europeans in the outskirts of the city. The British also decided to segregate Africans by ethnicity, and Kibera became the settlement where Nubian soldiers were assigned. In the following decades, Kibera evolved into a slum, starting as a small settlement with only 600 residents, eventually turning into a suburb with a million people.

Kibera is composed of closely packed, small structures with almost no sanitation, water, and electricity. On every site of the street, you'll find a community, consisting of thousands of haphazardly constructed shacks, forming a maze of streets and alleyways. Most residents of Kibera live in extremely impoverished conditions, earning less than $1 USD per day. The unemployment rate is around 80%, only 20% of the population has access to electricity, and proper sanitation facilities are scarce. Besides poverty, there is a high prevalence of HIV and AIDS, affecting about 20% of the population.

Security is also lacking; sexual assault is quite common. People in Kibera often can't afford to send their children to school, lack access to healthcare, and most crucially, need clean drinking water. Despite being one of the poorest and dirtiest neighborhoods in Africa, high and stringent investment in education has made Kibera one of the slums with the highest levels of hope.

Population: 700,000 people

Khayelitsha is situated in Cape Town, South Africa. This is the largest informal settlement in South Africa with a population of 400,000 people and is also one of the largest slums globally. Most houses in Khayelitsha are makeshift shacks constructed with wood and corrugated iron for roofing. Thousands of people in this township lack proper sanitation; the area, in general, is unsanitary. The unemployment rate for those living in Khayelitsha is 73%, with 70% of the population residing in makeshift shacks.

The shacks are built closely together, making fires a frequent issue as they spread rapidly and occur frequently. In Khayelitsha, there are no named streets; instead, the vast area is divided into 26 districts numbered with letters, each shack having a different number. Lack of clean water and food is another challenge. An estimated one in three people has to walk 200 meters or more to access clean water. Limited food supply is sold between the shacks, often exposed to the sun and flies. Food sold between the shacks is the only food choice in Khayelitsha as there are no supermarkets or stores in any form.

Khayelitsha now has schools, healthcare facilities, but many still have to walk a long way to get drinking water. Severe poverty combined with a lack of community infrastructure has led to high levels of crime, gang activity, violence, and drug use, making Khayelitsha the murder capital of South Africa. Local police report solving an average of four murder cases every weekend. Khayelitsha is, in fact, not recognized by most top businesses in South Africa, though it creates opportunities for those in the informal economy.

Population: 400,000 people

Mathare is not just a slum in Nairobi; it is considered a collection of slums in Nairobi, the oldest dating back to the 1920s. The oldest slum in this collection is called Mathare Valley and has a population of around 120,000 people. This slum is a cluster of makeshift wooden structures constructed without any centralized planning. The structures are grouped together without any spacing, drainage, or sewage systems; some structures are literally standing on a pile of garbage.

The unemployment rate in Mathare is estimated at around 80%; even those employed have very insecure job prospects. Informal settlements consist of one-room shanties made of mud, tin, or wood, constructed rudimentarily, with no electricity and no sewage system. Access to water is often from a communal tap, typically serving 100 households. The average population per shanty is eight people. Although Kenya has implemented free primary education since 2003, many school-age children still do not attend school or drop out prematurely, especially in slum areas with fewer public primary schools.

Mathare lacks essential modern life necessities such as electricity, roads, clean water, and sanitation. Furthermore, this area is in dire need of security as it is almost lawless. A gang war is ongoing; triggered by some gangs heavily taxing local alcohol producers. Efforts are being made to redirect the energy of these restless youths into some constructive activity, such as sports. Mathare is the home to several football teams.

Population: 500,000 people

Rocinha, located in Rio de Janeiro, is considered one of the largest, most densely populated, and urbanized slums in Rio de Janeiro. The community has an estimated population of about 100 to 200 thousand people, living crowded in a steep and rugged landscape covering only (0.80) square miles. Rocinha has been neglected by the government in its history. However, it is truly a very interesting place. Most structures are solidly built; some even rise to four stories.

In the Rocinha community, the population is dense, with the majority living in impoverished or near-poor conditions, residing in small stacked shanties, sometimes reaching up to 7, 8, 9, and even 11 stories. Most houses in Rocinha have basic sanitation, plumbing, and electricity. There are about 21 settlements within Rocinha, but this community only occupies an area of about 0.86 km2. An important aspect of Rocinha is that it is built on very precarious land, and buildings are primarily concentrated together without any actual planning.

The education status of Rocinha's residents is very low. Residents have an average of 4.1 years of formal education, with less than 1% of Rocinha's adult population having a high school diploma or higher. Jobs that pay a living wage in Brazil are almost exclusively reserved for citizens with higher formal education.

Population: 200,000 people

Makoko is a region comprising six collective slum villages. Four of these villages float on the surface of the lagoon in the swamp, and two villages are on the mainland. Despite being only a few miles from the city's financial center and not far from the headquarters of oil companies on Victoria Island, this place was a blank spot on the map until recently. Makoko is one of the most unique inner-city slums in Africa, with one-third of the community built on stilt houses in a lagoon off the mainland of Lagos.

Transportation in Makoko is by canoe. The rest of the settlement is on swampy land, lacking sanitation and basic public services. The settlement lacks essential social amenities such as electricity, schools, and health care facilities. Residents lack adequate sanitation conditions, with about 15 households sharing communal toilets and waste, kitchen waste, and plastic bags going straight into the water. Makoko residents have faced significant pressure in recent years due to soaring land prices.

Crime, drug abuse, and malnutrition are major issues, while diseases like malaria continue to pose serious health challenges. Fishing is a primary commercial activity in Makoko, with fish often smoked and sold to local markets. Many residents feel that life in Makoko is not much different from the mainland; buying and selling take place as usual.

Population: 300,000 people

Kangemi is a slum in Kenya located in the outskirts of Nairobi. Kangemi has a symbiotic relationship with the adjacent middle-class settlements of Loresho and Kibagare and Westlands to the west. Its southern border connects to Kawangware, another large slum, and its eastern border connects to Mountain View, another middle-class area. It is situated on the road connecting Nairobi to Naivasha. Kangemi may have over 100,000 residents. Despite being a multi-ethnic slum, the largest ethnic group in residence is the Luhya tribe.

Kangemi is situated in a small valley. The slum lacks a proper drainage system. Approximately 20,000 people belong to a Catholic parish headquartered in Kangemi. Kangemi is home to some of Nairobi's poorest; they often live on less than $2 a day and lack access to good food, clean water, and sanitation conditions. There is a high unemployment rate, drug addiction, and alcoholism. Kangemi faces a significant HIV problem.

One of the main issues faced by the residents of Kangemi is the lack of wastewater treatment systems and proper waste disposal services. The central wastewater system of Nairobi is often inaccessible to those living in various informal settlements. The challenges of life in the slum become more severe due to the population density in these areas. Adding to the issue of overcrowding is the frequent occurrence of fires in the area. Illegal electrical connections through makeshift grids create a tangled web of wires hanging precariously over the roofs of people's homes, posing a dangerous fire hazard.