The United Nations says that nearly a quarter of a billion people escaped life in the slums over the past decade. According to a report by the UN Habitat Agency, the improvement was thanks largely to housing efforts in China and India, which made giant strides. Overall, the total number of slum dwellers actually increased from 776.7 million to 827.6 million during the years 2000-2010. In the past decade, China made improvements to the daily conditions of 65.3 million urban residents without shelter while India lifted 59.7 million citizens out of poor housing. It means the U.N has already achieved one of its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Under MDG 7, U.N members pledged to make significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020.