housing. A similar pattern is observable the Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Mozambique, and Zambia where housing adequacy is also unequally distributed across top and bottom income groups. Even though the Democratic Republic of Congo enshrines the right to decent housing, access to drinking water as well as to electric energy in its 2006 Constitution (Art. 48), 62 percent of HHs in the Democratic Republic of Congo do not have access to adequate housing. This is most pronounced in the area of access to electricity: in the richest income decile only 70 percent of HHs have access to electricity and in the lowest income deciles less than 1 percent of HHs have access to electricity.

In countries such as Angola (housing adequacy Gini 0.25) and India (housing adequacy Gini of 0.19), the pattern is slightly different. In both countries, in the lowest income deciles, every third household is likely to live in an adequate house (about 36 percent). In the highest income decile, almost every HH (94 percent in India and 90 percent in Angola) is likely to have adequate housing. While the housing inadequacy is still very pronounced in the lowest income group, particularly compared to the richest HHs, housing adequacy gradually improves with growing incomes.

Iraq’s access to adequate housing is rather equal across income deciles (housing adequacy Gini of 0.09). About 80 percent of low-income HHs and almost 90 percent of high-income HHs are likely to live in adequate housing. Iraq has a large water and sanitation network and almost all HHs according to the latest household survey have access to safe water (91 percent) and sanitation (99 percent) services. This closely ties in with the latest estimations by JMP, outlining that about 99 percent of households in Iraq have access to water and sanitation (UNICEF & WHO 2019). However, frequent power shortages, a continuing lack of qualified personnel, illegal water tapping, or failures to empty pit latrines contribute to system failures. For instance, while 40 percent of septic tanks and improved pit latrines are emptied on average in Iraq, there are great regional variances in emptying practices. Septic tanks and pit latrines are twice as likely to be emptied in South/Central Iraq compared to Kurdistan, ranging from 71 percent in Baghdad to 8 percent in Muthana (UNICEF & WHO 2019). The greatest constraint for adequate housing in Iraq is overcrowding. The average HH size in Iraq is seven people and large households with six or more members account for about half of all HHs. One person HHs are extremely rare in Iraq (less than 1 percent). On average, 3.7 HH members are sharing a room, with smaller regional disparities. In Baghdad, about 3.6 HH members are sharing a room, 4.4 in Maysan, 4.1 in Wasit and Najaf, 3.9 in Thi-qar, Anabr and Qadisiya, 3.8 in Basrah, 3.7 in Babylon and Kerbela, and 3.6 in Salah AlDeen and Muthanna. The acute number of overcrowded houses in Iraq could point to the large number of internally displaced people (IDP) and numerous Iraqis who are returning from neighboring countries and are often finding shelter by host families as their houses were destroyed or seized. The number of IDPs and refugees, which often live in makeshift structures are