⚠️ Unconfirmedhealth2022

People using at least basic drinking water services (% of population)

Share of each country’s population using at least basic drinking water services (WHO/UNICEF JMP). Latest available year varies by country (2019–2023).

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Key Insights

Global Average
90.5%
Median: 98.6%
Countries Covered
170
with available data
Highest
Belarus
100.0%
Lowest
South Sudan
41.0%
Top 5 Countries
1Belarus100.0%
2Canada100.0%
3Cayman Islands100.0%
4Chile100.0%
5People's Republic of China100.0%
By Region
Oceania100.0%(2 countries)
Europe100.0%(32 countries)
South America97.9%(7 countries)
North America97.9%(4 countries)
Asia96.8%(25 countries)
Key Findings
  • Many high-income countries are effectively at universal (≈100%) access to at least basic drinking water.
  • Several conflict-affected or low-income countries remain far below 75%, indicating major access and time-burden gaps.
  • The measure captures both infrastructure and accessibility (collection time), making it more informative than ‘improved source’ alone.
  • Countries can score high on ‘basic’ while still facing quality issues that would reduce ‘safely managed’ coverage.

Country Rankings

Top 10 Countries

Bottom 10 Countries

Data Analysis

Value Distribution

How countries are distributed across the value range

Low (0.0%)High (100.0%)

Regional Comparison

Average values by world region (Global avg: 90.5%)

Oceania (2)
Europe (32)
South America (7)
North America (4)
Asia (25)
Other (91)
Africa (9)

About This Statistic

This indicator measures the share of a country’s population using “at least basic” drinking water services—an improved water source where the round trip to collect water is 30 minutes or less (including waiting). It is a core SDG monitoring metric (SDG 6.1) produced by the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) and is widely used because it is comparable across countries and updated regularly.

Unlike “safely managed” drinking water, which requires additional quality and accessibility criteria, the “at least basic” measure focuses on whether people can reasonably access an improved source. It highlights not only infrastructure gaps, but also time burdens (especially in rural areas) where households may rely on improved sources that are still too far away.

Full Data

Rank Country Value
1Belarus100.0%
2Canada100.0%
3Cayman Islands100.0%
4Chile100.0%
5People's Republic of China100.0%
6Croatia100.0%
7Cyprus100.0%
8Czech Republic100.0%
9Denmark100.0%
10Estonia100.0%
11Finland100.0%
12France100.0%
13Georgia100.0%
14Germany100.0%
15Greece100.0%
16Hungary100.0%
17Iceland100.0%
18Ireland100.0%
19Israel100.0%
20Italy100.0%
21Japan100.0%
22North Korea100.0%
23South Korea100.0%
24Kuwait100.0%
25Latvia100.0%
26Libya100.0%
27Lithuania100.0%
28Luxembourg100.0%
29Maldives100.0%
30Mauritius100.0%
31Oman100.0%
32Netherlands100.0%
33New Zealand100.0%
34Norway100.0%
35Poland100.0%
36Portugal100.0%
37Qatar100.0%
38Saudi Arabia100.0%
39Singapore100.0%
40Slovakia100.0%
41Slovenia100.0%
42Spain100.0%
43Sweden100.0%
44Switzerland100.0%
45United Arab Emirates100.0%
46Türkiye100.0%
47United Kingdom100.0%
48United States of America100.0%
49Uruguay100.0%
50Afghanistan100.0%
51Albania100.0%
52Algeria100.0%
53Argentina100.0%
54Australia100.0%
55Austria100.0%
56Bahamas100.0%
57Bahrain100.0%
58Belgium100.0%
59Bosnia and Herzegovina100.0%
60Botswana100.0%
61Brazil100.0%
62Romania99.9%
63Thailand99.9%
64Ukraine99.9%
65Serbia99.8%
66The Republic of North Macedonia99.8%
67Trinidad and Tobago99.7%
68Barbados99.7%
69Costa Rica99.6%
70Malaysia99.6%
71Moldova, Republic of99.6%
72Suriname99.6%
73Bhutan99.6%
74Russian Federation99.4%
75Egypt99.4%
76Colombia99.2%
77Mexico99.2%
78Uzbekistan99.2%
79Solomon Islands99.2%
80Benin99.1%
81Jordan99.1%
82Paraguay99.1%
83Bulgaria98.9%
84Guyana98.7%
85Bangladesh98.7%
86Armenia98.5%
87Tunisia98.4%
88Iraq97.9%
89Lebanon97.7%
90Samoa97.7%
91Panama97.5%
92Morocco97.4%
93Kazakhstan96.8%
94Brunei Darussalam96.7%
95Islamic Republic of Iran96.5%
96India96.4%
97Philippines96.1%
98Belize96.0%
99Cuba95.9%
100Venezuela95.9%
101Vietnam95.6%
102Ecuador95.3%
103Bolivia95.1%
104Dominican Republic94.5%
105Honduras94.2%
106Jamaica94.0%
107Sri Lanka93.8%
108Kyrgyzstan93.8%
109Nepal93.4%
110South Africa92.9%
111El Salvador92.2%
112Guatemala92.2%
113Gabon92.0%
114Montenegro91.7%
115Namibia91.4%
116Indonesia91.1%
117Peru91.0%
118Pakistan90.9%
119Comoros90.1%
120Central African Republic89.4%
121Fiji88.0%
122Nicaragua87.7%
123Malta87.3%
124Ghana85.7%
125Myanmar84.3%
126Senegal83.4%
127Cambodia83.1%
128Cote d'Ivoire82.4%
129Lao People's Democratic Republic82.0%
130Mali81.9%
131Nigeria81.4%
132Republic of the Congo80.4%
133Lesotho80.0%
134Republic of The Gambia79.4%
135Guinea-Bissau78.6%
136Guinea78.4%
137Rwanda78.0%
138Timor-Leste77.5%
139Zimbabwe77.4%
140Cape Verde76.5%
141Malawi76.2%
142Sudan75.5%
143Haiti74.6%
144Cameroon74.1%
145Eritrea73.9%
146Burkina Faso73.7%
147Uganda73.4%
148Tajikistan73.2%
149Togo71.3%
150Djibouti70.7%
151Kenya70.4%
152Liberia69.9%
153Mongolia69.2%
154Yemen69.1%
155United Republic of Tanzania68.3%
156Angola67.6%
157Burundi67.3%
158Zambia65.4%
159Ethiopia65.2%
160Mozambique64.8%
161Mauritania63.9%
162Sierra Leone63.4%
163Madagascar61.3%
164Chad58.3%
165Niger56.9%
166Somalia56.0%
167Democratic Republic of the Congo52.5%
168New Caledonia52.1%
169Papua New Guinea41.6%
170South Sudan41.0%
Showing 170 of 170 countries

Topics

Data Source

This data comes from WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (2022).

View Original Source