Powerful images reveal the wealth inequality in the world's biggest cities

Divided cities

It's no secret that the rich and the poor live side by side in some of the world's biggest cities. In his photo series Unequal Scenes, Cape Town-based photographer Johnny Miller used a drone to capture the reality of this divide at its starkest.

Click or scroll on to see his incredible and sometimes heartbreaking images that reveal the striking inequalities at the heart of some of the world's cities today.

Johannesburg, South Africa

South Africa has been named the most unequal country in the world by the World Bank.

Despite the end of Apartheid in 1994, inequality is far from over in the country, with official figures estimating that more than 23 million South Africans were living in poverty by the end of 2023, the latest date for which figures are available.

This inequality can be seen in images such as this one, taken over Johannesburg, where the Kya Sands slum faces the affluent, leafy suburb of Bloubosrand. Just a single-track road separates large houses with swimming pools from the poverty of the tin-roofed shacks.

Johannesburg, South Africa

The Kya Sands settlement isn't the safest place to live and is at risk from fires spreading through the wood and plastic structures. Dirty water also poses a problem. "If you look even closer, the main thoroughfares in Kya Sands are actually drainages for the black, filthy water emanating from the nearby creek," Miller says.

Johannesburg, South Africa

This picture of the affluent Primrose area on the left and the Makause settlement in Johannesburg again shows a single road separating extreme wealth from poverty.

Sitting on an abandoned gold mine, the two places embody Apartheid, almost 30 years after it was abolished. Primrose was named after the daughter of the British financier Barney Barnato in 1886, while Black Africans lived separately in Makause. Today, little has changed.

Mumbai, India

Mumbai is densely packed with 22 million inhabitants.

It also has the largest slum population of any city in the world. Over 40% of Mumbai's population lives in slums, according to recent statistics, similar to the one pictured, where blue tarpaulin is the only defence against the monsoon season.

Mumbai, India

The Dharavi slum (pictured) is the largest in Mumbai and the second largest in Asia, with an estimated one million inhabitants. The slum, the setting for the film Slumdog Millionaire, has a high literacy rate of 69%, making it the most literate slum in the country.

Although unemployment rates have been dipping in India, they remain high, with many well-educated people unable to secure work.

Mumbai, India

Miller reveals he tapped into the knowledge of local people to work out where to capture images using a drone. “In Mexico City I relied on advice from a helicopter pilot, Carlos Ruiz. In India, I used PK Das’ slum maps. So there are a variety of ways I do my research."

Pictured is a Mumbai slum almost entirely enclosed by skyscrapers.

Mexico City, Mexico

Mexico is one of the most unequal countries on the planet, according to OECD data.

While poverty has fallen notably since 2018, almost 30% still fall into this category.

This image from Mexico City shows how closely the concrete homes of the city's poor sit next to the painted homes and tiled roofs of the more affluent. 

Mexico City, Mexico

These aerial images show a recent property development, which has been carved out from the slum areas in Santa Fe. 

Mexico City, Mexico

Miller also took photographs of the Santa Fe slums with skyscrapers in the near distance. The wealthy of the business world are separated from the poor by a single highway bridge.

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Durban, South Africa

This aerial view of Durban in South Africa shows how the Papwa Sewgolum Golf Course sits right next to a slum's tin shack homes. "In a twist of irony, the golf course is named after an Apartheid-era golfer of Indian descent, Sewsunker 'Papwa' Sewgolum," Miller told UK newspaper the Telegraph in a 2018 interview.

"When he won the Natal Open in 1965, he had to receive his trophy outside, in the pouring rain, while the white players sat comfortably inside."

Durban, South Africa

Durban is a tourist hotspot, with travel guides praising the area's Golden Mile of beachfront that was redeveloped for the 2010 football World Cup. Less openly discussed is the significant disparity in the living standards of its inhabitants.

Durban, South Africa

This image shows the road that leads down from Morningside to the Umgeni River, which is lined by shacks. These slums are at risk from poor drainage and torrential rain, as well as the threat of fire. Richer inhabitants sit higher up on the hill, avoiding these particular perils.

Pietermaritzburg, South Africa

Pietermaritzburg is the city in South Africa where Mahatma Gandhi was thrown off a train for refusing to leave the first-class carriage in a stand against racism and inequality.

Today, the Otto's Bluff Road in Pietermaritzburg acts as a dividing line between two ways of life, a symbol of division that sadly persists.

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Dar es Salaam in Tanzania is one of Africa's fastest-growing cities. According to the World Population Review site, the former fishing village saw its population jump more than 400,000 over the last year and now stands at nearly nine million.

Here, the poor and densely-packed slum area of Msasani on the left contrasts with the sparser and more affluent Masaki with its swimming pools and swathes of green space on the right.

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

The wealthy tend to live in Masaki and Oyster Bay, areas that Miller notes were formerly given over to British and German colonialists. 

Nairobi, Kenya

The Royal Nairobi Golf Club in Kenya, which opened in 1906, has the sewage-infested Kibera slum as its neighbour. The rusting tin roofs and the lush greens are separated by a railway line that many children from the slum play on.

Nairobi, Kenya

The slum of Kibera sits next to the affluent suburb of Loresho, with the two communities separated by a concrete wall. 

Nairobi, Kenya

A "road for the rich" (pictured in its construction phase) has since been cut through the Kibera slum, displacing thousands of people whose makeshift homes were demolished.

Nairobi, Kenya

Loresho is home to Nairobi's more affluent citizens, such as government workers and businesspeople. Here, the neat and uniform fenced-off gardens of Loresho's rich inhabitants back onto the disordered maze of the slum's homes.

Palo Alto, USA

Silicon Valley has a problem with poverty. It may be home to global multibillion-dollar tech companies, but it's far from utopia. In this image, a patch of tents can be seen in the foreground, just across from Meta's luxurious headquarters.

Oakland, USA

Just across the bay from San Francisco, Oakland's housing market is following its expensive neighbour skywards. This has had a shocking impact on the lives of its inhabitants, as the sharp rise in house prices and rents has acted as the catalyst to not only a housing crisis but a homelessness crisis in the area. 

Seattle, USA

Similar scenes are captured further north in Seattle, a city that entered a state of emergency in 2015 due to its homelessness crisis. This led to government-sanctioned tent cities, such as this one, being set up to help deal with those looking for somewhere to live.

Notably, the camp is hidden so that it can't be seen from the street.

Seattle, USA

At the time, the mayor called the situation a human tragedy "seldom seen in the history of our city". Yet the crisis continues years after the state of emergency was declared and homeless camps dot the city to this day. 

Seattle, USA

Those living in tent cities often have to move on when the government's lease on the space ends. This image was taken in the Alaskan Way Viaduct – a slightly more attractive site due to its roof protecting inhabitants from rain – days before it was slated to be closed. A sign threatened fines for not vacating.

Seattle, USA

A 2023 report revealed the city of Seattle has spent almost $1 billion (£786m) in a bid to tackle homelessness over the last decade. Despite this enormous sum, the number of people experiencing homelessness has continued rising.

Detroit, USA

Detroit's economy has seen a moderate recovery in recent years, but decades of economic difficulty have left their trace. Woodward Avenue, pictured here, cuts a trail through the whole of Detroit and exposes those who are merely surviving on one side against the wealth of others living on the other side.

Detroit, USA

Grosse Pointe on the right isn't technically within Detroit's boundary but is known as one of the city's wealthiest areas. A canal separates the neighbourhood from Jefferson Chalmers, which, although it has fewer houses, is much less affluent.

Detroit, USA

Many areas in Detroit are almost lifeless in comparison to their past. Black Bottom, pictured, used to be a lively area but has suffered from years of neglect. Now, like many areas of Detroit, these aerial images reveal the cracked concrete of its almost abandoned streets.

Los Angeles, USA

Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles is an area synonymous with homelessness and inequality. The tent city stretches over several blocks, and is in stark contrast to the more affluent parts of downtown LA, where high-rise buildings sit next to historical buildings such as the Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall.

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