Publication: Poverty, Living Conditions, and Infrastructure Access : A Comparison of Slums in Dakar, Johannesburg, and Nairobi
Loading...
Date
2010-07-01
ISSN
Published
2010-07-01
Author(s)
Abstract
In this paper the authors compare
indicators of development, infrastructure, and living
conditions in the slums of Dakar, Nairobi, and Johannesburg
using data from 2004 World Bank surveys. Contrary to the
notion that most African cities face similar slum problems,
find that slums in the three cities differ dramatically from
each other on nearly every indicator examined. Particularly
striking is the weak correlation of measures of income and
human capital with infrastructure access and quality of
living conditions. For example, residents of Dakar's
slums have low levels of education and high levels of
poverty but fairly decent living conditions. By contrast,
most of Nairobi's slum residents have jobs and
comparatively high levels of education, but living
conditions are but extremely bad . And in Johannesburg,
education and unemployment levels are high, but living
conditions are not as bad as in Nairobi. These findings
suggest that reduction in income poverty and improvements in
human development do not automatically translate into
improved infrastructure access or living conditions. Since
not all slum residents are poor, living conditions also vary
within slums depending on poverty status. Compared to their
non-poor neighbors, the poorest residents of Nairobi or
Dakar are less likely to use water (although connection
rates are similar) or have access to basic infrastructure
(such as electricity or a mobile phone). Neighborhood
location is also a powerful explanatory variable for
electricity and water connections, even after controlling
for household characteristics and poverty. Finally, tenants
are less likely than homeowners to have water and
electricity connections.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Gulyani, Sumila; Talukdar, Debabrata; Jack, Darby. 2010. Poverty, Living Conditions, and Infrastructure Access : A Comparison of Slums in Dakar, Johannesburg, and Nairobi. Policy Research working paper ; no. WPS 5388. © http://hdl.handle.net/10986/3872 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Other publications in this report series
Publication Right to Education(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-03-12)About a third of the 7.7 million Venezuelans who have left their country due to political and economic turmoil have settled in neighboring Colombia. The extent to which the Colombian schooling system can absorb the massive demand for education of Venezuelan children is key for their future trajectory of human capital accumulation, as well as that of Colombian students in receiving communities. This paper estimates the effect of Venezuelan migration on educational outcomes of children living in settlement municipalities in Colombia, distinguish between the effect of the migration shock on native and migrant students. Specifically, it estimates the effect of the migration shock on school enrollment, dropout/promotion rates and standardized test scores. The identification relies on a plausibly exogenous measure of the predicted migration shock faced by each Colombian municipality every year. The findings show that the migration shock increased the enrollment of Venezuelan students in both public and private schools and in all school grades, but also generated negative spillovers related to failing promotion rates and increasing dropout. This paper documents that these negative effects are explained by the differential enrollment capacity of schools, as well as by the deterioration of key school inputs.Publication Environmental Policy under Weak Institutions(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-03-11)Developing countries are facing mounting pressures to incorporate environmental concerns into their policy reform agendas. This paper finds that common environmental policies, such as levying taxes to reduce the excessive exploitation of natural assets, can be self-defeating when (i) institutions are weak and (ii) the general equilibrium effects of such policy actions are overlooked. This seemingly paradoxical result is driven by fundamental mechanisms in structural transformation frameworks, without the need for strong assumptions. It also carries a clear policy implication: environmental policies should be considered within a country’s broader development context, rather than in isolation.Publication The Quality and Price of Africa’s Imports of Digital Goods(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-03-08)Imported digital goods are critical for productivity growth in low-income countries. Using detailed data on international trade flows and tariffs, this paper finds that African nations tend to import relatively low quality, low price digital goods. It also finds that digital goods in Africa are subject to relatively higher tariffs, along with other factors that contribute to their higher cost in the domestic market compared to other regions, especially in some low-income countries. The findings show that the African Continental Free Trade Area will do little to reduce this tariff burden, as most digital goods are sourced from higher income nonmembers. In contrast, unilateral tariff liberalization toward all countries would significantly increase the imports of digital goods in Africa.Publication Reviewing Assessment Tools for Measuring Country Statistical Capacity(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-03-06)Country statistical capacity is increasingly recognized as crucial for development, but no academic study exists that reviews the available assessment tools. This paper offers the first review study that fills this gap, paying particular attention to data and practical measurement challenges. It compares the World Bank’s recently developed Statistical Performance Indicators and Index with other widely used indexes, such as the Open Data Inventory index, the Global Data Barometer index, and other regional and self-assessment tools. The findings show that each index brings advantages in data sources, number of indicators, measurement focus, coverage of countries and time periods, and correlation with common development indexes. The Open Data Inventory index covers the most countries, the Global Data Barometer index collects data through its surveys, and the Statistical Performance Indicators and Index offer a broader framework for assessing statistical systems. The paper offers further thoughts on the potential mechanisms through which these tools can bring positive impacts on economic activities and some political economy concerns, as well as future directions for development.Publication High Temperature and Learning Outcomes(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-03-05)This paper uses data from 2003–19 on 2.47 million test takers of a national high stakes university entrance exam in Ethiopia to study the impacts of temperature on learning outcomes. It finds that high temperatures during the school year leading up to the exam reduce test scores, controlling for temperatures when the exam is taken. The results suggest that the scores of female students are less impacted by higher temperatures compared to their male counterparts. Additionally, the analysis finds that the scores of students from schools located in hotter regions are less impacted by higher temperatures compared to their counterparts from cooler regions. The evidence suggests that the adverse effects of temperature are driven by impacts from within-classroom temperatures, rather than from indirect impacts on agriculture.