Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene January - February 2016 vol.11 no.1 | Page 15

NEWS in brief

Global Highlights

but still achieved a 20 percentage point increase in
the use of improved sources of drinking water.

o 82% of the global urban population vs. 51% of the
rural population uses improved sanitation
facilities
• There are rural and urban disparities
o 96% of the global urban population uses improved o 7 out of 10 people without improved sanitation
drinking water sources, compared with 84% of the facilities, and 9 out of 10 people still practising
open defecation, live in rural areas
rural population

o 8 out of 10 people still without improved drinking • The population without sanitation access live
water sources live in rural areas
primarily in Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Latin
• The populations without access are mainly in sub- America and the Caribbean.
o Southern Asia – 953 million
Saharan Africa and Asia.
o Sub-Saharan Africa – 695 million
o Sub Saharan Africa – 319 million
o Eastern Asia – 337 million
o Southern Asia – 134 million
o South Eastern Asia – 176 million
o Eastern Asia – 65 million
o Latin America & the Caribbean – 106 million
o South Eastern Asia – 61 million
o Other areas – 98 million
o All other regions – 84 million

• Open defecation is still a major problem globally,
though some countries and regions have made
The MDG target called for halving the proportion of the remarkable progress.
population without basic sanitation, and so extend access o Ethiopia achieved the largest decrease in the
from 54% to 77% of the global population.
proportion of the population practising
• The MDG target was not met, although there was open defecation. It has reduced from 92%
(44 million people) in 1990 to 29% (28 million
progress.
o 68% of the global population now uses an improved people) in 2015 – an average reduction of over
sanitation facility, 9 percentage points below the 4% per year over 25 years.
o In Southern Asia, where the number of open
MDG target
defecators is highest:
o The global MDG target for sanitation has been
missed by almost 700 million people
• Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan have all achieved
o 2.1 billion people have gained access to an improved reductions of more than 30 percentage points
sanitation facility since 1990
since 1990.
o In 2015 it is estimated that 2.4 billion people globally • In India there has been a reduction of 31
have no access to improved sanitation facilities. Of percentage points, representing 394 million people
them, 946 million defecate in the open.
o The number of people practising open defecation
B: Sanitation

• Some regions did better than others.
o Only four developing regions met the sanitation
target: the Caucasus and Central Asia; Eastern Asia;
Northern Africa; and Western Asia
o 50% of the population in Western Asia and 41% in
Northern Africa gained access since 1990. By
contrast, less than 17% gained access in sub-Saharan
Africa.
o Eastern Asia increased coverage by 27 percentage
points and met the target.
o LDCs did not meet the sanitation target, and only
27% of their current population has gained access
since 1990
o In Southern Asia, 576 million people gained access
during the MDG period – an average of 63000
people per day for 25 years.
o Due to a combination of population growth and
slow progress, the number of people in sub-Saharan
Africa without access to sanitation has increased
since 1990.
• As with water, there were rural and urban disparities.

has actually increased in sub-Saharan Africa, and
the region now accounts for a greater share of the
global total than in 1990.
o At current rates of reduction, open defecation will
not be eliminated among the poorest in rural areas
by 2030
C: Hygiene

•

•

There was no specific target on hygiene in the
MDGS, however its health benefits are significant
and linked to adequate water and sanitation. The
JMP covers hygiene practices in its data gathering.
Data from over 50 countries show low levels of
handwashing in many countries. In sub-Saharan
Africa, in the 38 countries for which data are
available, it is at best 50%.
In many parts of the developing world, up to 4
out of 10 schools and healthcare facilities lack basic
water, sanitation and hygiene facil ]Y\˂