Urban poor at risk in 2022

This report section analyzes the increasing vulnerability of the urban poor to extreme heat across 54 high-impact countries in 2022, highlighting a rise in the population at high risk due to lack of access to cooling.

• In 2022, the number of urban poor at high risk due to lack of cooling access in 54 high-impact countries rose to 796.5 million people, an increase of 24.8 million over the previous year. Since 2018, this population has grown by 93.2 million people, driven by factors such as fast-growing urbanization and challenges related to electricity access and housing quality.
• The urban poor face high risks not only from a lack of cooling technology but also from poor housing quality that fails to protect against extreme heat, insufficient income to operate fans, and unreliable electricity that leads to food spoilage and nutritional risks.
• India, China, and Nigeria are the three countries with the highest absolute numbers of urban poor. India saw the largest absolute increase of 10.5 million people (6 percent) between 2021 and 2022. In terms of relative proportional increases, Yemen (10 percent) and Myanmar (7 percent) experienced the highest growth.
• Asia and the Middle East contain the majority of the global urban poor at high risk, with 512.3 million people across 16 high-impact countries, representing 64 percent of the global total. In Yemen, 74 percent of all urban residents are at high risk.
• In Africa, the urban poor at risk grew by 7.8 million to reach 238.3 million in 2022, accounting for 30 percent of the global at-risk urban poor population. Nigeria contributed 45 percent of this regional increase, adding 3.5 million people.
• Latin America and the Caribbean saw its first decrease in the number of urban poor at risk since tracking began, with a total reduction of over 420,000 people. This was primarily driven by a reduction of approximately 800,000 people in Brazil.

APA

Sustainable Energy for All (2022). Urban poor at risk in 2022. https://www.seforall.org/chilling-prospects-2022/urban-poor-at-risk

Chicago

Sustainable Energy for All. Urban poor at risk in 2022. 2022. https://www.seforall.org/chilling-prospects-2022/urban-poor-at-risk.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Sustainable Energy for All |title=Urban poor at risk in 2022 |date=2022 |url=https://www.seforall.org/chilling-prospects-2022/urban-poor-at-risk |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{sustainableenergyforall2022urban, author = {{Sustainable Energy for All}}, title = {{Urban poor at risk in 2022}}, institution = {Sustainable Energy for All}, year = {2022}, url = {https://www.seforall.org/chilling-prospects-2022/urban-poor-at-risk}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }