Overcrowding
Dimension: Vulnerability
Area: Socioeconomy
Category: Living place
Definition: Overcrowding is the condition of people living in a dwelling unit that is smaller than what is needed. The international standard establishes that a household is considered overcrowded when more than three people share the same habitable room. This indicator can be operationalized in different ways depending on the data availability (UN Habitat, 2018).
- Unit of measure:Number of people per habitable room
- Formula:
Numerator: Total population living in a territory.
Denominator: Number of habitable rooms of all households in a territory.
Data sources:
- National census
- Official population projections
Comments and limitations: An habitable room is a room of at least 4m2. The assumption is that this room size would be the minimum space for three people to sleep. In the practice, data collection that includes the size of a room it’s difficult to achieve. Therefore, the data available considers an overcrowded household when there are more than two persons per room.
- UN Habitat (2018). Metadata on SDGs Indicator 11.1.1 Indicator category: Tier I. https://unhabitat.org/sites/default/files/2020/06/metadata_on_sdg_indicator_11.1.1.pdf