rocinha, in rio de janeiro, is widely considered to be one of rio de janeiro's largest, most densely populated and urbanized slums. the community has a population estimated at anywhere between 100 and 200 thousand inhabitants, who live crammed into a steep and rugged landscape of only (0.80) square miles. within this highly dense community the majority of residents subsist in conditions of abject or near abject poverty, residing in small shanties stacked one on top of another, sometimes as many as tall as 7, 8, 9, and even 11 stories tall. most houses in rocinha have basic sanitation, plumbing, and electricity. there are roughly 21 neighborhoods within rocinha yet the community only occupies an area of approximately 0.86 km².out of 126 official administrative regions within the municipality of rio de janeiro, rocinha ranked 120th or, 6th worst on the city's human development index (hdi) in 2000. that same year an official government census (ibge 2000) estimated that there are a minimum of 6,000 residents of rocinha who suffer from at least one health related disability. more recently, in 2008 a government census measuring the hdi of 510 of rio de janeiro´s approximately 800 slums found that rocinha ranked 316th from the top, significantly below the average hdi of the 510 slums considered in the census. this is despite the fact that rocinha is located between two of brazil's wealthiest neighborhoods, são conrado and gávea. the disparities in public health conditions and education for these adjacent communities are startling. with this data in mind community leaders, scholars, and activists argue that when considering the size of the community and its low hdi that the real number of rocinha's residents who suffer from at least one health related disability is probably significantly higher than what the government estimated in 2000. not surprisingly the educational status of rocinha's residents is very low. residents have an average of only 4.1 years of formal education, with less than 1% of rocinha's adult population having earned a degree above a high school diploma. jobs that pay a livable wage in brazil are all but strictly reserved for citizens with higher levels of formal education.
