Fact sheet

  • Up to one-third of global disease is caused by environmental factors, such as polluted water and air, according to estimates by United Nations agencies and the World Health Organisation.
  • Just over a billion people still do not have access to safe water. However, good progress has been made since 1990: about the same number of people have gained access to safe water, improving the global total who have access from 77 per cent to 83 per cent.  
  • In proportion to population size, the regions with the least access to safe water are the Pacific islands (48 per cent of people do not have access) and sub-Saharan Africa (42 per cent do not have access). The percentages of people without access are much lower in Asia, ranging from 12 per cent in Western Asia to 22 per cent in Eastern Asia. However, because the population of the Asian regions is so large, these percentages represent a huge number of people: 674 million, which is about two-thirds of the global total without access to safe water.
  • Access to sanitation is worse. An estimated 2.6 billion people — 42 per cent of the world's population — do not have access to improved sanitation facilities (household connection to a clean water supply). The lowest rates of access are in sub-Saharan Africa (64 per cent are without access) and South Asia (63 per cent).
  • In the Millennium Development Goals, governments promised to halve the proportion of people without access to safe water and improved sanitation by 2015. At current rates of progress, we will meet the water target, but we will miss the sanitation target by half a billion people.
  • Poisonous chemicals in the environment are responsible for about 2 per cent of all deaths by injury in developed countries, and 5 per cent in developing countries, the United Nations Environment Programme says.
  • Diarrhoeal diseases caused by dirty water and poor sanitation claim the lives of 1.8 million children a year, and seriously damage the health and development of millions more.
  • In major emergencies, the two most deadly health risks are insufficient or unsafe water and inadequate sanitation, which cause disease outbreaks. So providing safe water and adequate sanitation is critical.
  • Water-related diseases are preventable, and simple measures work! Washing hands with soap and water after contact with faeces, and before eating, can protect you.
  • The safe disposal of faeces (so that they do not get into the water supply or contaminate the environment in other ways) is equally crucial in the battle against diarrhoea.