Shelter is a fundamental human right, but it is a right that’s still denied to many. Nearly a billion of the world’s people live in slums or squatter settlements without adequate water, sanitation or public services. The problem is being compounded by a mass migration from rural areas into cities, as well as population growth within cities particularly in low-income countries. At current rates, 1.4b people could be living in slums by 2020.

The solution lies partly in the economic development of low-income countries, which will be helped by debt cancellation and more equitable trade agreements. In the short-term, local initiatives such as micro-loans can help people afford at least basic shelter.

For the 3 billion people whose lives are still rural, economic wellbeing depends heavily on rights of access to land. In most parts of the world land ownership is highly inequitable. In Brazil, for example, less than 3 per cent of the population owns two-thirds of the land on which crops could be grown. A further 5 million rural families have no land and survive as temporary labourers.

In recent decades massive protests have led to reforms of land ownership in Brazil, Venezuela and other countries, but further reform is necessary.