Mapping changes in housing in sub-Saharan Africa from 2000 to 2015

Lucy S. Tusting (), Donal Bisanzio, Graham Alabaster, Ewan Cameron, Richard Cibulskis, Michael Davies, Seth Flaxman, Harry S. Gibson, Jakob Knudsen, Charles Mbogo, Fredros O. Okumu, Lorenz Seidlein, Daniel J. Weiss, Steve W. Lindsay, Peter W. Gething and Samir Bhatt
Additional contact information
Lucy S. Tusting: London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Donal Bisanzio: RTI International
Graham Alabaster: United Nations Human Settlements Programme
Ewan Cameron: University of Oxford
Richard Cibulskis: World Health Organization
Michael Davies: UCL Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering (IEDE), University College London
Seth Flaxman: Imperial College London
Harry S. Gibson: University of Oxford
Jakob Knudsen: The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts
Charles Mbogo: Kenya Medical Research Institute
Fredros O. Okumu: Ifakara Health Institute
Lorenz Seidlein: Mahidol University
Daniel J. Weiss: University of Oxford
Steve W. Lindsay: Durham University
Peter W. Gething: University of Oxford
Samir Bhatt: University of Oxford

Nature, 2019, vol. 568, issue 7752, 391-394

Abstract: Abstract Access to adequate housing is a fundamental human right, essential to human security, nutrition and health, and a core objective of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals1,2. Globally, the housing need is most acute in Africa, where the population will more than double by 2050. However, existing data on housing quality across Africa are limited primarily to urban areas and are mostly recorded at the national level. Here we quantify changes in housing in sub-Saharan Africa from 2000 to 2015 by combining national survey data within a geostatistical framework. We show a marked transformation of housing in urban and rural sub-Saharan Africa between 2000 and 2015, with the prevalence of improved housing (with improved water and sanitation, sufficient living area and durable construction) doubling from 11% (95% confidence interval, 10–12%) to 23% (21–25%). However, 53 (50–57) million urban Africans (47% (44–50%) of the urban population analysed) were living in unimproved housing in 2015. We provide high-resolution, standardized estimates of housing conditions across sub-Saharan Africa. Our maps provide a baseline for measuring change and a mechanism to guide interventions during the era of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1050-5

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