By 2030 about 2 billion of the world's estimated 8.1 billion will live in slums. This is almost a fourth of the world's population. This will be caused by the growing population the world expects in the future. By definition a slum is ,”,"a densely populated usually urban area marked by crowding, dirty run-down housing, poverty, and social disorganization." (Webster's Dictionary) These slums negatively affect the world's population because they contain a large quantity of people, litter due to the lack of facilities, and sickness that can spread as a result of the lack of good health care. One of the main reasons slums negatively affect the world's population is because they contain too many people.
Too many residents in one place is one reason why slums negatively affect the world's population. Overpopulation is already happening in many parts of the world. As it says in the article 'Two Billion Slum Dwellers' by Elisabeth Eaves ,” Nearly 80% of Nigeria's urban population ,or some 41.6 million people, live in slums. The comparable numbers in India are 56% and 158.4 million.” These two countries have a very large amount of people living in slums. All these people and many more add to the world's overpopulation problem. And with more people the demand for resources become greater ,and the more people also means more litter and pollution to the environment. All this litter found in slums slowly kill the environment and create sicknesses that can spread.
All the litter in slums not only kill the environment ,but also create sicknesses when it mixes with drinking water/food. Source 2 descirbes a way that the litter and waste affect the people ,"And a muddy swamp of plastic bags obstructs the entrance to the latrine. It's a collection of what's known in slum vernacular as 'Flying Toilets' - flimsy bags filled with human waste." All the bags are very harmful to the environment because they never decompose. And because the people live in a slum they cannot get rid of all the plastic bags and litter. So when it rains ,whatever is mixed in with the litter will also mix with their drinking water. When this happens people can become sick. Sickness is another way that slums negatively affect the Earth's environment.
In slums, sickness can spread easily because the residents cannot afford healthcare. With the waste being in the open it can mix with food and drinking water like it says in source 2 ,”Human waste leeches into the water people drink and contaminates the food they eat." The contamination of food and water they eat equals sickness. And because they cannot afford health care the sickness can spread easily. It can go from person to person. This and all the rest are reasons slums negatively affect the world's population.
By 2030, about 2 billion of the world's estimated 8.1 billion will live in slums. They negatively affect the world's population because they contain a large quantity of people, litter due to the lack of facilities, and sickness that can spread as a result of the lack of good health care. The overpopulation in slums adds the the Earth's already growing population ,all the litter in the slums creates sicknesses when it mixes with drinking water and food. These sicknesses cannot be easily treated due to slum resident's lack of health care. With overpopulation ,litter and sicknesses slums are not a very good place for the Earth or the individuals that live in them.
