By IANS,
Rio De Janeiro : Some 11.42 million Brazilians are living in slums, about 6 percent of the population, said a report released Wednesday.
The report by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) shows that the percentage of Brazilians who live in shantytowns, often in precarious conditions, almost doubled in the past 20 years.
Nearly half of the shantytowns are in the cities of Rio and Sao Paulo, the largest two cities in Brazil, and in Belem, in the northern region.
In Belem, 54.5 percent of the population live in slums. In Rio and Sao Paulo, the figures are 22 and 11 percent respectively, reported Xinhua.
Living conditions in slums are worse than in regular neighbourhoods in Brazil’s largest cities.
The illiteracy rate in slums stands at 8.4 percent, twice as high as the rate registered outside slums. However, the rate is lower than the national average, which is 9.6 percent.
The report indicates that basic sanitation is still a major problem in shantytowns. Only 67.3 percent of households have adequate sanitation networks in slums, as opposed to 85.1 percent outside.