India's Slums Double in Size

Though the country has experienced an economic boom, the number of Indians living in slums has increased 100 percent in the last two decades.

"The number of people living in slums in India has more than doubled in the past two decades and now exceeds the entire population of Britain, the Indian Government has announced.

India’s slum-dwelling population had risen from 27.9 million in 1981 to 61.8 million in 2001, when the last census was done, Kumari Selja, the Minister for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, said.

The figure is the latest illustration of how India’s recent economic boom has left behind millions of the country’s poorest people, raising fears that social unrest could undermine further growth."

"The expansion of India’s slums is partly due to the rise in India’s total population, which increased from 683 million in 1981 to 1.03 billion in 2001."

Source: Source: Times Online UK, May 17, 2007

Full Story: Indian slum population doubles in two decades

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