Squatting in the territory which would become
Bangladesh has a long history, reaching back to the
Mughal Empire. After the
Partition of Bengal in 1947, Muslims migrated to what became
East Pakistan. In contemporary times, squatting since the 1971
Bangladesh Liberation War has resulted from factors such as migration from rural areas to urban ones, the lack of affordable housing, bad governance and natural disasters. As well as informal settlements on the ground, there are
rooftop slums and boat squatters. During the
Bangladesh famine of 1974, flooding affected 80 per cent of the country and almost 100,000 people were displaced to 183 camps in
Dhaka. After the flooding subsided, many refugees decided to live in
informal settlements on the periphery of Dhaka rather than going home. At the time this was the only available option since there was already a housing deficit of 47,195 units and little option to rent, except in the innercity
slums. Thus ten per cent of Dhaka's population were squatters in 1974. As of 2013, almost 35 per cent of Bangladesh's urban population lived in informal settlements. In
Khulna, the largest squatted area was Supraghat, with 15,875 residents. == References ==