A good portion of my family is from the third world. And I have lived in the third world (multiple continents, and some of the most war torn places on earth). The housing situation was something I admired as basically anyone could build and own a house. I found it inspiring and realized then the code and zoning game was largely a scam, walking away with the exact opposite conclusion you had expected. Those people generally built the safest house they could with what they can -- the regulations would only make them poorer and less safe, possibly casting them in the street if they cannot afford to meet them where they're not the building inspector's problem anymore (this is the luxury of the building inspector, the downsides of his vigilance is unseen to him and cast into the streets where they likely have an even worse fate).
>the inspections and building to code costs very little and is free and government provided in most cases.
It would have been basically impossible to build my house if there were code inspections. I was only available weekends.
> Even if you get away with it legally,
I have "gotten away with it" and the house is fully legal and recognized. The county literally issued me a closed permit saying they exempted me from inspections. Instead of building plans it just shows a square on a map.