Progress on Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

2017 update and SDG baselines

July 12, 2017

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Progress on Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene: 2017 Update and SDG Baselines (full report in english)

The WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) 2017 Update is the most comprehensive global assessment to date. It establishes country, regional and global baseline estimates for the new Sustainable Development Goal targets and indicators relating to of drinking water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and includes a wealth of new information on the types of facilities people use and the level of service they receive.  The latest estimates show that some 3 in 10 people worldwide, or 2.1 billion, lack access to safe, readily available water at home, and 6 in 10, or 4.5 billion, lack safely managed sanitation.

 

In addition to documenting progress towards ending open defecation and achieving universal access to basic services, this report presents the first ever estimates of the population using ‘safely managed’ drinking water and sanitation services – meaning drinking water free from contamination that is available at home when needed, and toilets whereby excreta are treated and disposed of safely. Safely managed services represent an ambitious new global benchmark and estimates are not yet available for all countries. The report identifies a number of critical data gaps that will need to be addressed in order to enable systematic monitoring of SDG targets and to realise the commitment to “leave no one behind”.

Explore the data

The new WHO/UNICEF JMP interactive website www.washdata.org allows you to explore the latest country, regional and global statistics (including new data for sub-national regions and wealth quintiles), create and share customised charts, and to download the data for further analysis.