⚠️ Unconfirmededucation2021

Students in schools with no basic drinking water service (%)

Share of students enrolled in schools without basic drinking water service, by country (latest 2019–2021). UNICEF/WHO JMP WASH in Schools.

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Key Insights

Global Average
13.0%
Median: 1.0%
Countries Covered
169
with available data
Highest
Niger
67.4%
Lowest
Bosnia and Herzegovina
0.0%
Top 5 Countries
1Niger67.4%
2Eritrea63.9%
3Mauritania63.1%
4Burkina Faso62.4%
5Chad61.7%
By Region
Africa20.5%(9 countries)
Other20.0%(91 countries)
Asia7.4%(25 countries)
North America2.0%(4 countries)
South America0.6%(7 countries)
Key Findings
  • In several low-income and conflict-affected countries, a majority of students are enrolled in schools without basic drinking water.
  • Many high-income countries report near-zero shares, highlighting the infrastructure gap in learning environments.
  • The indicator can diverge from household drinking-water access, revealing school-specific investment needs.
  • Reducing this share supports both education outcomes (attendance, concentration) and public health.

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: 13.0%)

Africa (9)
Other (91)
Asia (25)
North America (4)
South America (7)
Europe (31)
Oceania (2)

About This Statistic

This statistic measures the percentage of students who attend schools that do not have a “basic drinking water service.” Under the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) definition for WASH in Schools, “basic drinking water” generally means drinking water from an improved source that is available at the school at the time of the survey (more stringent tiers exist, but this one is designed for global comparability).

It’s a revealing indicator because it connects infrastructure directly to children’s daily learning environment and health. In many countries, gaps in school water access can be very different from household water access, and the risk is often higher in rural areas and in under-resourced public schools. Values are derived from administrative and survey sources harmonized by JMP; the “latest” year varies by country, but most available observations are in the 2019–2021 window.

Full Data

Rank Country Value
1Niger67.4%
2Eritrea63.9%
3Mauritania63.1%
4Burkina Faso62.4%
5Chad61.7%
6South Sudan60.2%
7Liberia58.0%
8Democratic Republic of the Congo57.6%
9Yemen56.3%
10Mali55.8%
11Malawi54.6%
12Ethiopia54.0%
13Papua New Guinea53.5%
14Burundi52.8%
15Madagascar50.9%
16Sierra Leone49.5%
17Guinea47.7%
18Zambia46.8%
19Cameroon46.3%
20Togo46.2%
21Angola44.9%
22Somalia44.7%
23Senegal44.2%
24Lao People's Democratic Republic41.9%
25Republic of the Congo41.4%
26Djibouti40.8%
27Uganda38.9%
28Timor-Leste37.6%
29Haiti36.4%
30United Republic of Tanzania36.0%
31Bangladesh35.1%
32Guinea-Bissau34.9%
33Lesotho34.5%
34Kenya33.0%
35Rwanda31.2%
36Afghanistan30.2%
37Sudan29.4%
38Cote d'Ivoire28.8%
39Comoros25.9%
40Myanmar25.6%
41Zimbabwe25.0%
42Eswatini22.2%
43Nigeria21.4%
44Ghana21.3%
45Tajikistan21.1%
46Cambodia20.5%
47Pakistan19.7%
48Gabon18.7%
49Bolivia18.4%
50Namibia18.1%
51Iraq12.1%
52Mongolia10.6%
53India9.4%
54Nepal9.1%
55Nicaragua8.7%
56Central African Republic8.6%
57Belize7.9%
58Western Sahara7.8%
59Sri Lanka7.4%
60Guatemala7.3%
61Vanuatu7.0%
62Indonesia6.8%
63Honduras6.0%
64Solomon Islands5.7%
65El Salvador4.6%
66Albania4.4%
67Morocco4.1%
68Republic of The Gambia3.6%
69Paraguay3.1%
70Dominican Republic2.8%
71Philippines2.7%
72South Africa2.7%
73Brunei Darussalam2.4%
74Vietnam2.2%
75Suriname1.9%
76Uzbekistan1.9%
77Egypt1.6%
78Venezuela1.6%
79Panama1.5%
80North Korea1.4%
81Brazil1.2%
82Algeria1.1%
83Colombia1.0%
84Peru1.0%
85Thailand1.0%
86Armenia1.0%
87Bulgaria0.9%
88Islamic Republic of Iran0.8%
89Ecuador0.6%
90Austria0.6%
91Kyrgyzstan0.5%
92Malaysia0.5%
93Mexico0.5%
94Argentina0.4%
95Chile0.3%
96Malta0.3%
97People's Republic of China0.2%
98Benin0.2%
99Kazakhstan0.2%
100Libya0.2%
101Bhutan0.2%
102Botswana0.2%
103Belarus0.1%
104Costa Rica0.1%
105Cuba0.1%
106Canada0.0%
107Cape Verde0.0%
108Croatia0.0%
109Cyprus0.0%
110Czech Republic0.0%
111Denmark0.0%
112Estonia0.0%
113Fiji0.0%
114Finland0.0%
115France0.0%
116Georgia0.0%
117Greece0.0%
118Hungary0.0%
119Iceland0.0%
120Ireland0.0%
121Israel0.0%
122Italy0.0%
123Japan0.0%
124Jordan0.0%
125South Korea0.0%
126Kuwait0.0%
127Lebanon0.0%
128Latvia0.0%
129Lithuania0.0%
130Luxembourg0.0%
131Maldives0.0%
132Mauritius0.0%
133Moldova, Republic of0.0%
134Montenegro0.0%
135Oman0.0%
136Netherlands0.0%
137New Caledonia0.0%
138New Zealand0.0%
139Norway0.0%
140Poland0.0%
141Portugal0.0%
142Qatar0.0%
143Romania0.0%
144Russian Federation0.0%
145Saudi Arabia0.0%
146Serbia0.0%
147Seychelles0.0%
148Singapore0.0%
149Slovakia0.0%
150Slovenia0.0%
151Spain0.0%
152Sweden0.0%
153Switzerland0.0%
154Trinidad and Tobago0.0%
155United Arab Emirates0.0%
156Tunisia0.0%
157Türkiye0.0%
158Ukraine0.0%
159The Republic of North Macedonia0.0%
160United Kingdom0.0%
161United States of America0.0%
162Uruguay0.0%
163Samoa0.0%
164Australia0.0%
165Bahamas0.0%
166Bahrain0.0%
167Barbados0.0%
168Belgium0.0%
169Bosnia and Herzegovina0.0%
Showing 169 of 169 countries

Topics

Data Source

This data comes from WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (2021).

View Original Source