Sanitation key facts

WHO and UN gives indicators about sanitation worldwide. The figures are alarming.

Access to Sanitation

• In 2015, 39% of the global population (2.9 billion people) used a safely managed sanitation service.
• 27% of the global population (1.9 billion people) used private sanitation facilities connected to sewers from which wastewater was treated.
• 13% of the global population (0.9 billion people) used toilets or latrines where excreta were disposed of in situ.
• 68% of the world’s population (5.0 billion people) used at least a basic sanitation service.
• 2.3 billion people still do not have basic sanitation facilities such as toilets or latrines. Of these, 892 million still defecate in the open (in street gutters, behind bushes or into open bodies of water).

Sanitation impacts

• 1.8 billion people use a source of drinking water contaminated with faece.
• Some 842 000 people in low- and middle-income countries die as a result of inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene each year. Inadequate sanitation is estimated to cause 280 000 diarrhoeal deaths annually.
• For every US$ 1.00 invested in sanitation, there was a return of US$ 5.50 in lower health costs, more productivity, and fewer premature deaths.
• At least 10% of the world’s population is thought to consume food irrigated by wastewater.

Wastewater treatment

Globally, over 80% of the wastewater generated by society flows back into the ecosystem without being treated or reused.
This amount represents 90% in developing countries.

References:

WHO
http://www.who.int/fr/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/sanitation
http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/sanitation/facts/fr/

UN
http://www.un.org/fr/events/waterday/