News summary
UN-Habitat: 2.8 billion people lack adequate housing
UN-Habitat's press release for its 2024 Annual Report states that 2.8 billion people lack access to adequate housing and that an estimated 96,000 new units would need to be built each day to meet needs by 2030. The same report places 1.1 billion people in informal settlements and slums.
Source: UN-Habitat · Published 2 June 2025 · Added 16 September 2026 · World
Why it matters
This is the clearest current UN headline on the global housing condition. It describes people, not a single global housing-unit deficit, and it should not be collapsed into a national affordability statistic.
Related topics: Housing Supply · Homelessness · Population
Read the original at UN-HabitatOfficial press release accompanying the 2024 Annual Report, restating the 2.8 billion inadequate-housing estimate and the 96,000 units-per-day figure.