Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

Statistics

© JMP, 2013

Trends in global sanitation coverage 1990-2011, projected to 2015

Water and sanitation coverage

The latest coverage statistics give a mixed message: the world has met the MDG water target, but has fallen dangerously behind in sanitation. Two and half billion people are still without access to improved sanitation – including over 1 billion who have no facilities at all and are forced to engage in the hazardous and demeaning practice of open defecation.

For both water and sanitation there continue to be major disparities among regions. Sanitation coverage is lowest in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, where 70% and 59% of people do not have access to improved sanitation respectively. For water, coverage is only 54% in Oceania and 61% in sub-Saharan Africa, but all other regions have coverage rates of 87% or higher. Other disparities also continue: poor people and people living in rural areas are far less likely to have access to improved water and sanitation facilities than their richer and their urban compatriots.

WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation

These coverage figures were released in 2012, and are based on a comprehensive analysis of data by the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water and Sanitation. The JMP database draws on more than 1,100 surveys and censuses from developing countries and 300 reports from developed countries, covering the period 1980 to 2010.

• see the JMP website (external site) for in-depth information and statistics
• see also the JMP reports (right box on this page)

UNICEF Statistics

Economic and social statistics on the countries and territories of the world, with particular reference to children’s well-being, are published annually in the organization’s flagship publication, The State of the World’s Children.

UNICEF also has a specialized statistical website (http://www.childinfo.org/) where you can find all of the latest data on women and children, including that published by the JMP. The site contains analyses at the global, regional and country level, graphics of key findings, and Google tools allowing you to explore and interact with the new statistics, making your own graphs and satisfying your research needs and/or curiosity.

• To go to the water and sanitation introductory pages on childinfo please click here.
• To download excel documents of summary national, regional and global data and to access Google tools allowing you to explore and interact with the new statistics, please click here.
• To access country-specific excel documents, including detailed information on the WHO/UNICEF Coverage estimates, please click here.