Pakistan is one of the most rapidly urbanising countries in South Asia. Approximately 35 percent of its urban population lives in slum areas with poor access to basic services.
In Pakistan's commercial capital, Karachi, an estimated 50 percent of its 12 million residents live in slum areas. A huge annual influx of people migrating to this port city has left it bursting at its seams, with shelter and work hard to come by.
Karachi is also home to the country’s Bangladeshi community. They moved there when Bangladesh split from Pakistan in 1971.
This video short highlights the struggles faced by Bangladeshi migrant Sofia's extended family living in Karachi's 'Machar (mosquito) colony', where 700,000 people are packed into four square kilometres. Malnutrition levels are high and sanitation is poor in this neighbourhood created to house people looking for opportunities in the big city.
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This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
