Last update: November 2006

Current Status and Trends

In 2004, 83% of the world’s population (5.3 billion people) used water from improved drinking water sources – up from 78% (4.1 billion) in 1990. However, because of population growth, the number of people unserved has not changed significantly since 1990. About one sixth of the world population - a total of 1.1 billion people - remain without access to improved drinking water and 84% of these live in rural areas.

Coverage is lowest in West/Central Africa and Eastern/Southern Africa where only 55% and 56%, respectively, of the population use water from improved drinking water sources. Coverage is highest in the Latin America/Caribbean and CEE/CIS regions, where 91% of the population has access.

Global drinking water coverage increased from 78% in 1990 to 83% in 2004 – that means that 1.2 billion people gained access to improved drinking water sources. The biggest improvements were made in South Asia where coverage increased from 71% in 1990 to 85% in 2004. Coverage in CEE/CIS remained at 91% and in the Middle East/North Africa region coverage increased only marginally from 86% to 88%.

Although improved drinking water coverage in sub-Saharan Africa increased by 7% between 1990 and 2004 (from 47% to 55%), the actual number of people without access to improved drinking water sources increased by 60 million. This is a result of increased population growth. Current trends suggest that by 2015 the number of unserved people in sub-Saharan Africa will grow by a further 47 million.

In the South Asia and Latin America/Caribbean regions the MDG drinking water target has almost been reached ten years ahead of time, while the East Asia/Pacific, and Middle East/North Africa regions are on-track for reaching theirs. The West/Central Africa and Eastern/Southern Africa and CEE/CIS regions are not on track, the latter because it has made no progress over the past 15 years in reaching the remaining 9% of their population without access.

Disparities in use of improved drinking water sources

Disparities between urban and rural populations

Eighty-four per cent of the 1.1 billion people without access to improved drinking water sources live in rural areas. This indicates that lack of safe drinking water is still predominantly a rural problem. Only 35% of the rural population in sub-Saharan Africa has access to improved drinking water sources versus 82% in urban areas.

However, rapid urbanization has contributed to the number of people without access to drinking water in urban areas. Conditions are particularly bad in peri-urban and urban slum areas. Coverage in these often informal, overcrowded peri-urban settlements remains very low. Extreme poverty and unacceptable living conditions in these settlements are an affront to human dignity and have become an alarming problem. The urban statistics, which include the informal settlements tend to mask the deprivation found in these communities. Estimating coverage in peri-urban slum areas poses formidable technical challenges. However, efforts are underway to develop sampling methods that will enable separate estimates to be generated for the peri-urban slum areas.

Disparities by wealth

Not surprisingly, water and sanitation coverage, as well as levels of service, are higher among the rich than the poor. An analysis of 20 Demographic and Health Surveys from the past five years shows that fewer than 4 in 10 of the poorest households use an improved water source, whereas nearly 9 out of 10 of the richest households do.

Additional resources:

A world overview of progress towards the MDG drinking water and sanitation targets by country [PDF]

A detailed overview on urban and rural disparities, and information by geographic region, as well as country specific progress assessments [XLS]

An interactive map with 2004 coverage and progress information by country [External web page]