Slum Definitions in Urban India: Implications for the Measurement of Health Inequalities

Half the population of low- and middle-income countries will live in urban areas by 2030, and poverty and inequality in these contexts are rising. Slum-dwelling is one way in which to conceptualize and characterize urban deprivation, but there are many definitions of what constitutes a slum. This article presents four different slum definitions used in India, demonstrating that assessments of both the distribution and extent of urban deprivation depend on the way in which it is characterized, as does slum-dwelling's association with common child health indicators. Using data from India's National Family and Health Survey from 2005–06, two indicators of slum dwelling embedded in the survey and two constructed from the household questionnaire are compared using descriptive statistics and linear regression models of height- and weight-for-age z-scores. The results highlight discrepancies between international and local slum definitions, and underscore the importance of improving empirical representations of the dynamism of slum and city residents.