Planet of Slums, Mike Davis

Are poorness and slums around the world an illusion ?

By looking at the numbers that Davis gives, it seems a reality e.g. Indian slums are likely « to grow 250 percent faster than its overall population » and in Africa the « slums are growing at twice the speed of the continent’s exploding cities. » But in reality those numbers are never representing the actual state of poorness. In some cases those numbers are manipulated by the state itself , trying to maintain a "clean image" of the country on national and international basis.
We prefer to hide the poor and the reality that we do not want to see.