Alarming trends in global tenure insecurity

Twenty-three per cent of adults world-wide, i.e. 1.1 billion people, feel insecure about their land and property rights. In 2020, the share was at 19 per cent. This is the result of the latest Global Tenure Security Report, presented by the initiative Prindex in mid-October 2024 (see Box). The increase by four percentage points (p.p.) is equivalent to about 239 million people, which is comparable to the adult population of Brazil and Ethiopia combined. Most of this increase comes from the East Asia and Pacific region, where the number of adults feeling insecure has increased by about 176 million (primarily in China).

Prindex is a global initiative born from a partnership between the Global Land Alliance and the Overseas Development Institute (ODI). For the Report, during 2024, the Prindex initiative collected data from 108 countries, equivalent to 4.9 billion citizens, representing 87 per cent of the world’s adult (18+) population, on their perceptions of tenure security for land and housing property. The Prindex Report also includes an assessment of distribution of tenure forms and relates these to perceived tenure insecurity. The data were collected from nationally representative samples as a part of the Gallup World Poll, which tracks important issues world-wide, such as access to food, employment, leadership performance and well-being.

"We are further from achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 than we were five years ago. Tenure insecurity is rising, and this impacts not only individual well-being but also national stability and development. Without secure tenure, people feel unable to invest in their homes or communities, perpetuating cycles of poverty", Ward Anseeuw, lead of the Land Tenure Team at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), said at the launch of the report in late October in Rome. 

Philippines show greatest tenure insecurity

At the country level, the largest increases in tenure insecurity were observed in Ukraine (+ 23 p.p.), Malawi (+22 p.p.), Mozambique (+19 p.p.) and Greece (+19 p.p.). In the Philippines, the problem is particularly severe, as Esther Penunia, President of the Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA), confirmed. In her country, 56 per cent of the population felt insecure about tenure. Jordan and Iran are among the Top 3 countries as well.

However, there have also been positive developments over the past four years, with the largest improvements being observed in Burkina Faso (which had an extreme 44 per cent insecurity level in 2020), Kuwait and Tunisia where the share of adults feeling insecure decreased by 23, 20 and 14 p.p., respectively.

The report shows that the drivers of land insecurity can lie outside of the land sector. For example, financial insecuritywas identified as as the major driver of tenure insecurity, particularly in upper middle- and high-income countries, where nine per cent of respondents cited financial issues like unpaid rent or mortgage as their top concern. Furtherkey drivers the report points to are a strong process of urbanisation and an increase in renting. A clear link was also established between quality of governance and land security rights.

Urban-rural differences

At global level, 18 per cent of the rural population felt insecure vs. 23 per cent of urban population, versus a previous 16 per cent vs. 19 per cent. The overall urban-rural difference in tenure security is being driven primarily by low- and lower middle-income countries, where this difference in 2024 was 8 p.p. The largest urban-rural difference was found in Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Jordan and Afghanistan with 19 p.p., 22 p.p., 28 p.p. and 29 p.p. differences, respectively. The opposite tendency was observed in a small number of countries where rural residents indicated they felt more insecure. Such countries include Turkey (with 37 p.p. more rural residents feeling insecure than urban), Algeria (27 p.p.), Mali (15 p.p.), Italy (12 p.p.) and Sierra Leone (12p.p.).

Gender gap in perceptions

Similar to the 2020 figures, no significant difference in perceptions of tenure security across gender was detected on a global scale, with 24 per cent of men and 23 per cent of women feeling insecure about their tenure. At country level, however, significant differences become apparent. In six out of the 108 countries women feel significantly more insecure than men. The largest gaps were recorded in the United Arab Emirates (11 p.p.), Yemen (9 p.p.), Tajikistan and Kosovo (6 p.p. for both). The opposite was that case in 13 countries, where men reported feeling significantly more insecure than women. Among them are Iraq (-9 p.p.), Myanmar (-10 p.p.) and Greece (-14 p.p.). For comparison, in 2020 a significant gender difference was observed in 19 out of 140 countries (14 % of surveyed countries).

Insecurity in the case of divorce and spousal death

All married respondents were asked to consider how worried they would be about losing rights to their main property if either cases of divorce or a spouse passing away would occur. In the event of divorce, globally, 30 per cent of married men and 33 per cent of married women expressed concern about losing their rights. Here, a much larger gap was observed in the Middle East and North African countries, where 15 per cent of men and 37 per cent of women worried about such a scenario. This gap has widened since the first round of Prindex. A similar difference was observed in sub-Saharan countries, where 32 per cent of men and 44 per cent of women were worried. This gap, however, has decreased over the last five years. In contrast, in South Asia countries, the gender gap in tenure insecurity in the case of divorce has increased from 2.5 p.p. (statistically insignificant) in 2020 to 9 percentage points in 2024. Almost no gender difference in this scenario was recorded in Latin America.

In South Asia, 40 per cent of married men (vs. 53 % of married women) would worry about losing their property rights in case of spousal death. Similar numbers were recorded in sub-Saharan Africa (35 % of married men and 50 % of married women). Despite a relatively low level of risk associated with the death of a spouse, a large gender gap was recorded in Middle East and North African countries, where 15 per cent of married men and 32 per cent of married women would worry, and the gap has increased since 2020.

Policy-makers called upon to take action

The authors of the report call for country-specific interventions to address the diverse causes of tenure insecurity. These include:

• financial safety nets and social protection policies to support renters and mortgage holders facing financial challenges
• expansion of affordable housing programmes, including social housing and community land trusts.
• increased efforts to address gender disparities, as women globally remain less likely to have secure property rights compared to men (40 % versus 48 %)
• strengthening land governance systems in conflict-affected regions to safeguard property rights and facilitate post-conflict recovery

In addition, they demanded that property rights be included in the CBD and UNCCD frameworks.

(prindex/sri)

More information:

Prindex website