Booming nations in Asia grapple with rise in shantytowns

Makati

FAST-GROWING emerging economies in Asia are grappling with the conundrum that a boom brings: villagers flocking to cities only for many of them to end up living in slums.

About 55 per cent of the urban population live in shantytowns in Cambodia, 43 per cent in Mongolia, 41 per cent in Myanmar, and 38 per cent in the Philippines, according to World Bank data. The ratio is more than 20 per cent in Vietnam, China and Indonesia.