By Abdullahi Lukman
A staggering 2.1 billion people—around a quarter of the global population—still do not have access to safe drinking water, according to a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF released during World Water Week 2025.
The joint report, Progress on Household Drinking Water and Sanitation 2000–2024: Special Focus on Inequalities, also highlights that 3.4 billion people lack safely managed sanitation, including 354 million who practice open defecation.
Also 1.7 billion individuals are without basic hygiene facilities, with 611 million having none at all.
The data reveals deep global disparities. People living in least developed countries are over twice as likely to lack access to clean water and sanitation, and more than three times as likely to lack hygiene services compared to others.
In fragile contexts, safe drinking water coverage lags 38 percentage points behind other areas.
While rural regions have shown some progress—safely managed water access rose from 50 percent in 2015 to 60 percent in 2024—urban areas have seen limited improvements. Basic hygiene in rural areas rose from 52 percent to 71 percent during the same period.
Women and girls bear the brunt of these deficiencies. In many countries, they are primarily responsible for collecting water, with some in sub-Saharan Africa and Central and Southern Asia spending over 30 minutes daily on the task.
Inadequate sanitation also affects adolescent girls disproportionately, reducing their participation in school, work, and social life during menstruation.
“Water, sanitation, and hygiene are not privileges; they are basic human rights,” said Ruediger Krech, WHO’s director of environment, calling for accelerated efforts to reach the world’s most marginalized communities.
UNICEF’s director of WASH, Cecilia Scharp, emphasized the urgency of action: “When children lack access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene, their health, education, and futures are put at risk.
These inequalities are especially stark for girls.”
Without significant progress, the Sustainable Development Goal of universal access to safe water and sanitation remains out of reach.
