Population using safely managed sanitation services

Total Population

Total Population

Modeled

WHO/UNICEF JMP

Safely managed drinking water means using an improved sanitation facility that is not shared with other households and where excreta are either safely disposed of in situ or removed and treated off-site. As such, the indicator combines information on both whether households have access to improved toilets and safe treatment and disposal of the wastes produced.

Improved sanitation facilities include the following: flush or pour flush toilets to sewer systems, septic tanks or pit latrines, ventilated improved pit latrines, pit latrines with a slab, and composting toilets.

Safely disposed of in situ: if pit latrines and septic tanks are not emptied and excreta are contained and treated in situ they are considered safely managed. Excreta emptied from septic tanks and pit latrines and buried in a covered pit are also counted as safely disposed of in situ.

Treated offsite: excreta may also be emptied from septic tanks and pit latrines and delivered to a faecal sludge treatment plant, or conveyed in sewers to a wastewater treatment plant. For SDG monitoring, excreta receiving secondary or higher levels of treatment are considered safely managed.

For detailed guidance on safe sanitation see the WHO Guidelines on Sanitation and Health (https://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/sanitation-waste/sanitation/sanitation-guidelines/en/)

Data on emtpying and disposal of waste from on-site facilities and the treatment of wastewater from sewer connections are increasingly available through a combination of household surveys and administrative sources including regulators, but definitions have yet to be fully standardized. Data on containment, disposal and treatment of faecal sludge and wastewater will not cover all countries immediately. However, sufficient data were available to make estimates of safely managed sanitation services for 96 countries and for six out of eight SDG regions in 2019.

Method of computation: Household surveys and censuses provide data on use of types of basic sanitation facilities. The percentage of the population using safely managed sanitation services is calculated by combining data on the proportion of the population using different types of basic sanitation facilities with estimates of the proportion of faecal waste which is safely disposed in situ or treated off-site. The WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (JMP) estimates sanitation service levels by fitting a regression line to all available national data points in each country. The JMP 2017 update methodology describes in more detail how data on the type of sanitation facility used and the disposal and treatment of exreta are combined to compute the safely managed sanitation services indicator. (https://washdata.org/report/jmp-methodology-2017-update).

Disaggregation by place of residence (urban/rural) and socioeconomic status (wealth, affordability) is possible for all countries. Disaggregation by other stratifies of inequality (subnational, gender, disadvantaged groups, etc.) will be made where data permit. Sanitation services will be disaggregated by service level (including no services, basic, and safely managed services) following the JMP sanitation ladder.

The JMP method uses a simple regression model to generate time series estimates for all years including for years without data points. The JMP then shares all its estimates using its country consultation mechanism to get consensus from countries before publishing its estimates.

The JMP does not publish estimates for countries for which national data are not available. Regional and global estimates are made for basic services as long as data are available for 50% of the population with the region, weighting by the latest UNPD population estimates. Regional and global estimates for safely managed services used a lower threshold of 30% for the JMP 2017 update and SDG baselines report.

For more details on JMP rules and methods, please consult the website: www.washdata.org.

JMP estimates are based on national sources of data approved as official statistics. Differences between global and national figures arise due to differences in indicator definitions and methods used in calculating national coverage estimates. In some cases national estimates are based on the most recent data point rather than from regression on all data points as done by the JMP. In some cases national estimates draw on administrative sector data rather than the nationally representative surveys and censuses used by the JMP.

In the JMP 2017 report estimates for basic sanitation services were available for nearly all countries and estimates for safely managed sanitation services were made for 96 countries at national level. Sufficient data were available to estimate safely managed drinking water services at the regional level for the following five SDG regions: Australia and New Zealand, Eastern Asia and South-eastern Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Northern America and Europe, Western Asia and Northern Africa Data on basic handwashing facilities were available for 70 countries and regional estimates were possible for Sub-Saharan Africa and Western Asia and Northern Africa.

Time series data are available for the basic sanitation level of service over the period 2000-2015. These serve as the foundation for the safely managed sanitation service indicator. Some elements of safe management (e.g. wastewater treatment) were not collected during the MDG period and trend analysis will only be possible several years into the SDGs. (From 2000 to 2015)

Access to water and sanitation are considered core socio-economic and health indicators, and key determinants of child survival, maternal, and children’s health, family wellbeing, and economic productivity. Drinking water and sanitation facilities are also used in constructing wealth quintiles used by many integrated household surveys to analyse inequalities between rich and poor. Access to sanitation is therefore a core indicator for most household surveys. Currently the JMP database holds over 1,700 surveys and censuses. In high-income countries where household surveys or censuses do not always collect information on basic access, data are drawn from administrative records. Estimates of excreta management will be collected from countries and used to adjust the data on use of basic sanitation facilities as needed. Administrative, population and environmental data can also be combined to estimate safe disposal or transport of excreta, when no country data are available. Data on disposal or treatment of excreta are limited but estimates for safe management of faecal wastes can be calculated based on faecal waste flows associated with the use of different types of basic sanitation facility. Since the handwashing with soap survey questions were standardized in 2009, over 70 DHS and MICS surveys have included the module. JMP published handwashing estimates for 12 countries in its 2014 update, for 54 countries in its 2015 update, and for 70 countries in its 2017 update. The population data used by JMP, including the proportion of the population living in urban and rural areas, are those established by the UN Population Division.

WHO is required by World Health Assembly resolution to consult on all WHO statistics, and seek feedback from countries on data about countries and territories. Before publishing, all JMP estimates undergo rigorous country consultations facilitated by WHO and UNICEF country offices. Often these consultations give rise to in-country visits, and meetings about data on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene services and the monitoring systems that collect these data. The JMP has been engaged with more than fifty countries over the last 10 years in explaining JMP estimates, and reasons for discrepancies if any.

The current biennial data collection cycle begins in October during an even year and estimates are published during the following year.

The baseline SDG report was published in July 2017 and feed into the SG’s 2017 SDG Progress Report. . The estimates will be updated in 2019.

National statistics offices, Ministries of water, sanitation, health, environment. Regulators of water and sanitation services.

URL: www.washdata.org References: JMP website: www.washdata.org. JMP 2017 update and SDG baselines https://washdata.org/report/jmp-2017-report-final Ram, P., Practical Guidance for Measuring Handwashing Behaviour: 2013 update, World Bank Water Supply and Sanitation Programme, 2013. http://www.wsp.org/sites/wsp.org/files/publications/WSP-Practical-Guidance-Measuring-Handwashing-Behavior-2013-Update.pdf” Related indicators All targets under Goal 6, as well as targets 1.2, 1.4, 2.2, 3.2, 3.8, 3.9, 4a, 5.4 and 11.1