What Are The Similarities Between Slums And Poverty Traps

Slums and Poverty Traps Slums are the informal settlements that occur close to an urban area due to excess rural to urban migration leading to overpopulation of the urban area. In developing countries, at least, one-third of its urban dwellers live in slums. Many economists claim that within a country’s economy the formation of slums increased if there was rapid urbanization but low levels of economic growth. There has been a lot of debate whether these settlements causes economic progression of the individuals and act as springboards to their economic status or instead assume the role of a poverty trap. In my opinion slums are poverty traps, a system in place that furthers or maintains the level of poverty that already exists within

Slums are overpopulated and lack sewage systems. In place are community toilets that need to be paid for to gain access and if not people help themselves in plastic bags and do not properly dispose of. It causes havoc on the dwellers’ health as the waterways get contaminated causing outbreaks of diseases such as typhoid, bilharzia and cholera. According to statistics, families living here experiences, at least, one of their members getting sick every month. This ease of contraction to diseases creates an impediment economically as they have to take days off when sick. The lack of security of their jobs means that once they miss the one day they might come back the next day and realize someone else was hired. Sometimes even bread winners pass away due to these diseases leaving the family

The moves that the governments make to improve the quality of lives of its citizens only apply outside the slums causing further embellishment into the poverty of the slum dwellers. Thus, this causes the poverty that exists to be worse as those outside the slum are better off than those within it. Economically they are automatically set back. The housing situation is another matter by itself. Due to the slums closeness to the urban centers, rents are normally high taking almost 20% of the family’s income every month. This is a big percentage in any case and now especially when wages are low. The proximity of the slums to the towns also create other basics such as food and clothing to be expensive creating a difficulty when it comes to the family saving for future investments. If the family cannot be able to save to invest it leaves them in the same position as they were and as years continue to progress, worse