Global Situation: Access to Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH)

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  “Explore the 2025 WHO & UNICEF report on global water, sanitation, and hygiene progress. Discover key stats on access inequalities, challenges, and progress toward safe drinking water for 2.1 billion people.”

  (Length: ~155 characters — clear, concise, includes keywords like “WHO”, “UNICEF”, “water”, “sanitation”, “progress”, and entices clicks)

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Progress (2000–2024)

        Population Growth:

• •  2000: 6.2 billion people

                    2024: 8.2 billion people

• • Drinking Water Access:

    • Safely managed services: Increased from 3.8 billion to 6 billion (+2.2 billion).

    • No basic drinking water: Decreased from 1.1 billion to 696 million.

    • Since 2015, 961 million gained access to safely managed services.

      Country Achievements:

      • 89 countries already at >99% basic access.

      • 31 countries reached universal safely managed access; projected 38 by 2030.

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Categories of Drinking Water (JMP definitions)

• Surface water: direct, untreated water from rivers/lakes/canals.

• Unimproved: unprotected dug wells/springs.

• Limited: improved source but >30 mins round trip to collect.

• Basic: improved source, ≤30 min round trip.

• Safely managed: improved source, accessible on premises, available when needed, free from contamination.

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Key Data (2024)

• Of the 2.1B without safely managed drinking water:

  • 1.4B had a basic service

  • 287M used limited services

  • 302M used unimproved sources

  • 106M used surface water

• Sanitation:

  • 3.4B lacked safely managed sanitation

  • 354M practiced open defecation

• Hygiene:

  • 1.7B lacked basic facilities (incl. 611M with none at all)

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 Inequalities

• Least developed countries (LDCs):

  • 2× more likely to lack basic water/sanitation

  • 3× more likely to lack basic hygiene

• Fragile contexts:

  • Safely managed water coverage 38% lower than stable countries

• Rural vs. Urban:

  • Rural water coverage improved (50% → 60%) and hygiene (52% → 71%) between 2015–2024.

  • Urban coverage stagnating.

• Gender burden:

  • Women & girls remain primary water collectors in many regions (30+ minutes/day).

  • Menstrual health gaps persist: many lack sufficient materials and privacy.

  • Adolescent girls miss school, work, or social activities during menstruation more often than adults.

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Outlook & Challenges

• Significant progress, but SDG 6 (universal access to water & sanitation by 2030) is off track.

• Ending open defecation and achieving basic universal WASH services by 2030 is possible with acceleration.

• Universal safely managed services increasingly appear out of reach unless investment and focus intensify.

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• Disclaimers:

  Geographic Variation: Access to water and sanitation varies widely by region and socio-economic factors; the infographic shows global and aggregate data, which may not reflect local realities.Purpose: This infographic is for informational and educational purposes only and does not substitute professional advice or policy guidance.Future Projections: The predictions about future access and SDG targets are based on current trends and may change with new interventions or global events.

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