Facts about Water:
Statistics of the Water Crisis

• STATISTICS OF THE WATER CRISIS
  
  
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  771 million people still lacking even a basic drinking water service - water from an improved source (like a well or protected spring) that they can access within 30 minutes round-trip.
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  282 million use limited services - water from an improved source that takes more than 30 minutes to access round-trip
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  367 million use unimproved sources - water from an unprotected well or spring.
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  122 million drink surface water - water from a river, dam, lake, pond, stream, or irrigation canal 
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  Half of the 771 million people lacking basic drinking water service live in sub-Saharan Africa.
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  Eight out of nine countries that still have less than 50% coverage of at least basic drinking water services are in sub-Saharan Africa.
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  It is estimated that worldwide more than 1.4 billion people live in areas of high (1 billion) or extremely high (489 million) water vulnerability.
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  Historical rates of progress would need to double for the world to achieve universal coverage with basic drinking water services by 2030. (Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2020: Five years into the SDGs)
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  Globally, women and girls spend 200 million hours per day collecting water. This 200 million hours represents 8.3 million days, or over 22,800 years. https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/unicef-collecting-water-often-colossal-waste-time-women-and-girls
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  In Africa, 47% of schools have basic drinking water, 54% have basic sanitation and 38% have basic hygiene services. (Progress On Drinking Water, Sanitation And Hygiene In Africa 2000-2020 5 Years Into The SDGs)
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  Globally, 287 million children have no drinking water service at their school. Over half of them (164 million) are living in sub-Saharan Africa. (Progress on Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in Schools, UNICEF and WHO Joint Monitoring Programme, 2020)
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  2 out of 5 children worldwide who do not have basic drinking water service at school live in sub-Saharan Africa. (Progress on Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in Schools, UNICEF and WHO Joint Monitoring Programme, 2020)
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  215 million children in sub-Saharan Africa attend schools without basic sanitation services. (Progress on Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in Schools, UNICEF and WHO Joint Monitoring Programme, 2020)
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  Only 2 out of 5 schools in Africa have basic hygiene services (handwashing facilities with soap and water). (Progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene in Africa 2000-2020: five years into the SDGs)
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  3 out of 5 people in Africa lack basic hygiene services - defined as having a handwashing facility with soap and water at home. (Progress On Drinking Water, Sanitation And Hygiene In Africa 2000-2020 5 Years Into The SDGs)
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  In sub-Saharan Africa, the number of people with no handwashing facility has actually increased slightly from 2015 due to population growth (by 35.4 million), although the proportion without handwashing facilities has stayed steady at about one third. (Progress On Drinking Water, Sanitation And Hygiene In Africa 2000-2020 5 Years Into The SDGs)
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  Globally, at least 2 billion people use a drinking water source contaminated with faeces. Microbial contamination due to feces poses the greatest risk to drinking water safety globally.
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  Some 829,000 people are estimated to die each year from diarrhea as a result of unsafe drinking-water, sanitation and hand hygiene.
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  Contaminated water and poor sanitation are linked to the transmission of diseases such as cholera, diarrhea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid and polio. (https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/drinking-water)
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  WHO estimates that every dollar invested in hand hygiene yields a return on investment of $15. https://www.who.int/news/item/15-10-2021-investing-1dollar-per-person-per-year-in-hand-hygiene-could-save-hundreds-of-thousands-of-lives
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  Investment in water and sanitation services generates a quantifiable, positive return on investment through saved medical costs and increased productivity:
  Urban basic drinking water: $3 return for every $1 invested.
  Urban basic sanitation: $2.5 to $1
  Rural basic drinking water: $7 to $1
  Rural basic sanitation: $5 to $1
  https://www.unwater.org/water-facts/water-sanitation-and-hygiene/
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  In Africa 46% of health facilities have basic water services, 29% have basic sanitation services, and 40% have basic health care waste management services. (Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2020: Five years into the SDGs)
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  Women and girls are responsible for water collection in 8 out of 10 households with water off-premises. https://data.unicef.org/resources/safely-managed-drinking-water/#:~:text=This%20Thematic%20Report%20on%20Safely,water%20in%20the%20SDG%20era.
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  The average container for water collection in Africa, the jerrycan, weighs over 40 lbs when full.
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  The physical burden of water collection puts women and girls at higher risk of disease related to exposure to contaminated water and of sustaining musculoskeletal trauma due to carrying the weight of the water. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frwa.2020.00006/full
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  For women and girls in low-income areas, the consequences of inadequate sanitation include fear of harassment, experiences of violence, and psychosocial stress. https://wires.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/wat2.1122
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  Inadequate privacy, inconveniently located latrines, and a lack of locks and security expose women to a disproportionate risk of violence when accessing sanitation facilities. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frwa.2020.00006/full
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  While access to basic WASH services is essential for everyone, poor quality services disproportionately impact adolescent girls due to menstrual needs. 335 million girls attend primary and secondary schools without water and soap available for washing their hands when changing sanitary pads or cloths. https://www.unicef.org/media/47671/file/JMP-WASH-in-Schools-ENG.pdf
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  1 million deaths each year are associated with unclean births. Adequate sanitation and hygiene in healthcare facilities (running water, soap, sterile equipment, onsite toilet facilities, adequate sharps disposal) could prevent 26% of neonatal deaths and 11% of maternal mortality. (WHO/UNICEF 2019).
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  Nearly 3 out of 4 people in Africa lack safely managed sanitation - defined as use of an improved sanitation facility that isn’t shared with other households and where excreta is safely disposed of or treated. (Progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene in Africa 2000-2020: five years into the SDGs)
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  Since 2000, 2.7 billion people have gained access to use of improved sanitation facilities that are not shared with other households but some 1.7 billion globally people still lack access.
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  494 million people use no form of toilet and practice open defecation (the disposal of human faeces in fields, forests, bushes, open bodies of water, beaches or other open places). Worldwide, open defecation is most widespread in sub-Saharan Africa.
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  At current rates of progress, the world will only reach 67% coverage of safely managed sanitation by 2030, leaving 2.8 billion people without.
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  In sub-Saharan Africa, access to basic sanitation has decreased between 2000 and 2020. Although the proportion of the population with at least basic sanitation increased from 23% to 33% between 2000 and 2020, the population grew by 73% over the same period. (Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2020: Five years into the SDGs)
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  Over 2 billion people currently live in water-stressed countries, which is expected to be exacerbated in some regions as result of climate change and population growth. (https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/drinking-water)
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  The frequency and intensity of heavy precipitation events are projected to increase almost everywhere in Africa with additional global warming https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/factsheets/IPCC_AR6_WGI_Regional_Fact_Sheet_Africa.pdf
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  Heavy precipitation events can cause floods that damage water and sanitation infrastructure, carry runoff into water systems and contaminate groundwater. https://www.unicef.org/wash/climate
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  While heavy precipitation events are expected to increase in intensity and frequency, mean precipitation has been decreasing in northeast Africa. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/factsheets/IPCC_AR6_WGI_Regional_Fact_Sheet_Africa.pdf
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  Decreased mean precipitation will increase water scarcity and reduce people’s ability to access water through sand dams and rainwater harvesting systems.
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  The rate of surface temperature increase has generally been more rapid in Africa than the global average, with human-induced climate change being the dominant driver. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/factsheets/IPCC_AR6_WGI_Regional_Fact_Sheet_Africa.pdf
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  Rising temperatures can lead to deadly pathogens in freshwater sources, making the water dangerous for people to drink. https://www.unicef.org/stories/water-and-climate-change-10-things-you-should-know

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