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Estimating Rural Housing Shortage
The working group on rural housing for the Twelfth Five-Year Plan estimated the rural housing shortage in India to be 43.13 million in 2012. Using the latest data sets - Census 2011 and the National Sample Survey housing condition round for 2008-09 - and the improved methodology used by the technical group on urban housing shortage, this paper re-estimates the rural shortage to be 62.01 million in 2012. Households living in temporary houses and in congested conditions were found to be mainly responsible for the rural housing shortage. The results suggest the need for holistically focusing on eradicating shelter deprivation in rural India and contributing to an enhancement of the quality of life of the people.
This paper is an abridged version of a research study undertaken by Indian Institute of Dalit Studies under the Think Tank Initiative programme, International Development Research Centre. The author would like to acknowledge Amitabh Kundu, Sukhadeo Thorat, Indira Hirway, N K Sahu, P C Mohanan and the IIDS research team for their helpful comments. The paper has benefi ted substantially from constructive comments by an anonymous referee.
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