A slum or Favela outside of Rio
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There are 16,367,000* people in Rio de Janeiro, as of Friday, May 15, 2015.
There are many middle class and wealthy areas of the city. But there are over 750 slums where it is estimated more than 3 million people live. The slum houses vary in size, but they are all small and cramped, and poorly built and unsafe. There has been a major effort to make the sewers and clean water accessible in the slums, but many homes do not have running water or toilets. There is also a serious crime problem, with drug trafficking and crime in the slums. There has been police efforts to stop the violence between drug gangs, but it has not always worked well. Many homes in the slums were destroyed by errosion and flash floods in 2010. The city plans to build 10,000 new homes for the ones that were lost. Construction is mostly done. The other families were relocated to not as high risk slum areas until construction is done. Rio's port and harbor are the city's most valuable business assets. These make it a financial center for South America. There are corporate headquarters that cater to the entire continent. There are fewer vehicles on the road than in the U.S.A., but much of Rio suffers from traffic congestion. There are many cobblestone roads from the old mining town era. *to the nearest hundred people |