Water access is measured by more than whether a source exists. The core safely managed standard requires an improved source on premises, available when needed and free from faecal and priority chemical contamination; in 2024, an estimated 74% of the world’s population met that standard.
Key Water Access Statistics
The most useful headline figures span household service levels, progress, inequality and related WASH settings:
- In 2024, 74% of the global population used safely managed drinking-water services.
- In 2024, 2.1 billion people worldwide lacked safely managed drinking water.
- In 2024, 60% of rural residents used safely managed drinking water, compared with 83% of urban residents.
- In 2024, 1.4 billion people used basic drinking-water services while lacking at least one safely managed criterion.
- In 2024, 287 million people used limited drinking-water services worldwide.
- In 2024, 302 million people used unimproved drinking-water sources worldwide.
- In 2024, 106 million people drank surface water worldwide.
- Between 2000 and 2024, 2.2 billion people gained safely managed drinking water globally.
- Between 2015 and 2024, global safely managed coverage rose from 68% to 74%.
- Between 2015 and 2024, rural safely managed coverage rose from 50% to 60%.
- In 2024, 31 countries had universal safely managed drinking-water access, defined by the report as more than 99% coverage.
- At current progress rates, global safely managed coverage is projected to reach 77% by 2030.
- In 2022, four out of five people lacking at least basic drinking water lived in rural areas.
- In 2022, Europe and Northern America had 94% safely managed coverage, compared with 31% in sub-Saharan Africa.
- From 2015 to 2024, Lao PDR’s safely managed coverage increased from 12% to 35%.
- In 2022, 1.7 billion people lacked basic water services at their health-care facility.
- In 2019, poor WASH conditions contributed to an estimated 1.4 million to 4.2 million deaths globally.
Contents
- Global safely managed drinking-water access in 2024
- Water access service levels and definitions
- Water access trends from 2000 to 2024
- Rural, urban and income inequalities
- Regional and country water access data
- Water access in health care, schools and hygiene
Global Safely Managed Drinking-Water Access in 2024
The WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) estimated that 74% of the global population used safely managed drinking-water services in 2024. That left 2.1 billion people below the safely managed level, while the available safely managed estimates covered 160 countries representing 72% of the global population.
The JMP’s 2024 estimate is internationally comparable, but it is not a universal census: estimates were available for 160 countries, and modeled trend lines may be used. The safely managed definition combines source quality, location, availability and contamination criteria.
| 2024 global measure | Reported result | Population or scope |
|---|---|---|
| Safely managed drinking water | 74% | Global population |
| People lacking safely managed water | 2.1 billion | Global population |
| Rural safely managed coverage | 60% | Rural population |
| Urban safely managed coverage | 83% | Urban population |
| Countries with available estimates | 160 | Countries, areas and territories |
| Population represented by available estimates | 72% | Global population |
Source: Progress on household drinking-water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2024.
The rural rate was 23 percentage points below the urban rate in 2024, using the two reported percentages without additional population weighting. Thirty-one countries had universal safely managed access, defined as more than 99% coverage, while 89 countries had universal access to at least basic drinking water.
At current progress rates, the JMP projects 77% global safely managed coverage by 2030. Reaching SDG 6.1 would require an eightfold increase in the current global rate of safely managed progress, so the projection is conditional rather than guaranteed.
Water Access Service Levels and Definitions
Water access statistics distinguish levels that can look similar in a headline but represent different daily conditions. Basic service means an improved source requiring a collection round trip of 30 minutes or less; limited service takes longer than 30 minutes.
| Service level or source | 2024 estimate | Definition or scope |
|---|---|---|
| Basic service below safely managed | 1.4 billion people | Improved source, but missing at least one safely managed criterion |
| Limited service | 287 million people | Improved source requiring more than 30 minutes round trip |
| Unimproved source | 302 million people | Includes unprotected wells or springs |
| Surface water | 106 million people | Water collected directly from rivers, dams, lakes, streams or irrigation canals |
Source: Progress on household drinking-water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2024.
The 1.4 billion people using basic services represented about two-thirds of those lacking safely managed water in 2024, according to the JMP’s rounded summary. These categories describe the population below safely managed service and should not be added to the 74% safely managed share as if they were overlapping groups.
The earlier 2022 JMP release reported 1.5 billion people with basic service but without safely managed criteria, 292 million using improved sources with a round trip longer than 30 minutes, 296 million using unprotected sources and 115 million drinking untreated surface water. Those figures retain their 2022 measurement year because later editions can revise historical estimates.
Water Access Trends from 2000 to 2024
Global water access improved while the population denominator also grew. The world’s population increased from 6.2 billion in 2000 to 8.2 billion in 2024, and 2.2 billion people gained safely managed drinking water over that period.
| Period | Safely managed drinking-water change | Related reported measure |
|---|---|---|
| 2000–2024 | 2.2 billion people gained access | Global population rose from 6.2 billion to 8.2 billion |
| 2015–2024 | 961 million people gained access | People lacking safely managed water fell by 270 million |
| 2015–2024 | Global coverage rose from 68% to 74% | Surface-water users decreased by 61 million |
| 2015–2024 | Rural coverage rose from 50% to 60% | Urban coverage remained 83% as a rounded reported value |
Source: Progress on household drinking-water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2024.
The 2015–2024 period is the SDG-era comparison in the newer JMP release. It recorded 961 million additional people using safely managed water and a 270 million reduction in the number lacking it, but the change in the unserved population is not the same as a coverage-point change because population size changed.
An earlier JMP update found that 2.1 billion people gained safely managed drinking water between 2000 and 2022. It also estimated that the population lacking at least basic drinking water fell from 1.2 billion in 2000 to 703 million in 2022; these endpoints belong to that release and threshold.
Rural, Urban and Income Inequalities in Water Access
The global average conceals a persistent rural-urban divide. In 2024, safely managed coverage was 60% in rural areas and 83% in urban areas, while the 2015–2024 series showed rural progress from 50% to 60% and a rounded urban value unchanged at 83%.
For the earlier 2000–2022 period, urban populations accounted for 1.4 billion of the people gaining safely managed water, or about two-thirds of the total reported gain. Rural populations accounted for 704 million gains, while four out of five people lacking at least basic drinking water lived in rural areas in 2022.
The World Bank reported that low-income countries had 197 million more people lacking safe drinking water in 2022 than in 2000. That comparison uses the cited JMP safely managed measure and is not equivalent to the separate global at-least-basic series.
The distribution of progress matters alongside the global total: a large number of new connections or improved sources can coexist with persistent rural collection burdens, limited services and unsafe sources among households not meeting the safely managed standard.
Regional and Country Water Access Data
Regional differences were wide in 2022. The JMP estimated safely managed drinking-water coverage at 94% in Europe and Northern America, compared with 31% in sub-Saharan Africa.
| Geography | Period | Safely managed drinking-water coverage |
|---|---|---|
| Europe and Northern America | 2022 | 94% |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 2022 | 31% |
| Lao People’s Democratic Republic | 2015 | 12% |
| Lao People’s Democratic Republic | 2024 | 35% |
| Tanzania | 2015 | 21% |
| Tanzania | 2024 | 31% |
| Bhutan | 2015 | 47% |
| Bhutan | 2024 | 66% |
Sources: Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2022 and Progress on household drinking-water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2024.
From 2015 to 2024, safely managed coverage increased by 23 percentage points in Lao PDR, 10 points in Tanzania and 18 points in Bhutan. The endpoint values are JMP country estimates, and rounded figures should not be treated as more precise than reported.
Tunisia was the only country identified in the 2024 report as having a safely managed drinking-water decline of more than 10 percentage points since 2015. The report attributed the decline to trends in availability and microbiological contamination.
Water Access in Health Care, Schools and Hygiene
Household drinking-water access is one part of the wider WASH picture. Health-care facilities, schools and homes use related service indicators, but their populations and definitions are not identical to household drinking-water coverage.
In 2022, 1.7 billion people lacked basic water services at their health-care facility. Nearly 550 million children attended schools without basic water and sanitation services; that combined shortfall is not a drinking-water-only count.
Poor WASH conditions were associated with an estimated 1.4 million to 4.2 million deaths globally in 2019. The range covers diarrhea, acute respiratory infections, undernutrition and soil-transmitted helminthiases, so it is not a deaths-from-drinking-water-access-only measure.
The same 2019 estimate attributed 74 million to 204 million disability-adjusted life years to poor WASH conditions. These are attributable-burden estimates across multiple outcomes rather than a direct count of people without household water.
| 2022 household hygiene measure | Reported result | Definition or limitation |
|---|---|---|
| Basic hygiene service at home | 75% | Facility with soap and water on premises |
| Facility present but lacking water or soap | 17% | Related hygiene service level |
| No handwashing facility at home | 8% | Related hygiene service level |
| People with facility lacking soap and/or water | 1.3 billion | Related hygiene measure |
| People with no handwashing facility | 653 million | Related hygiene measure |
Sources: Water Sanitation and Health – Monitoring and evidence and Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2022.
The hygiene estimates have incomplete coverage: the 75% estimate was based on data available for 84 countries and four of eight SDG regions, while related estimates also have incomplete regional and high-income-country data. In practical terms, hygiene figures provide WASH context, not interchangeable evidence about safely managed drinking-water access.