According to the report, the urban poor are three to 10 times better off economically than the rural poor. Substandard housing, unsafe water and poor sanitation in densely populated cities are responsible for 10 million deaths worldwide every year, and are a major factor in preventable environmental hazards, which are responsible for 25 per cent of all premature deaths worldwide. Water-borne diseases alone kill 4 million infants and children annually. Diseases caused by poor housing conditions and a lack of safe sanitation also cost much more than prevention. By not dealing with these conditions, Governments are eventually burdened with extremely high health expenditures for their populations.
Homelessness is a problem in developed as well as in developing countries.
In London, for example, life expectancy among the homeless is more than 25 years lower than the national average. Poor urban housing conditions are a global problem, but conditions are worst in developing countries. The threat of mass homelessness is greatest in those regions because that is where population is growing fastest. By 2015, the 10 largest cities in the world will be in Asia, Latin America and Africa. The only city in a developed country that will be in the top ten is Tokyo, Japan - 28.7 million.