The Facts About The Global Drinking Water Crisis

One-in-six people in the world lack safe drinking water.
Water-related illnesses are the leading cause of human sickness and death.

In many countries, the water problem is the primary reason people are unable to rise out of poverty. Women and children bear the burdens disproportionately, often spending six hours or more each day fetching water for their families and communities. But there is hope. Proven solutions to the water problem currently exist, such as digging wells and rainwater harvesting. Proper funding and a collective will can make universal safe drinking water a reality.

Scope

1.1 billion people in the world do not have access to safe drinking water, roughly one-sixth of the world's population.

2.2 million people in developing countries, most of them children, die every year from diseases associated with lack of access to safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene.

Half of the world's hospital beds are filled with people suffereing from water related illnesses.

In the past 10 years, diarrhea has killed more children than all the people lost to armed conflict since World War II.

An estimated 25% of people from cities in developing countries purchase their water from vendors at a significantly higher price than piped water. In some cases, at the cost of more than a quarter of their household incomes.

Women and Children

Some 6,000 children die every day from disease associated with lack of access to safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene - equivalent to 20 jumbo jets crashing every day.

The average distance that women in Africa and Asia walk to collect water is six kilometers.

Water diseases

Waterborne diseases (the consequence of a combination of lack of clean water supply and inadequate sanitation) cost the Indian economy 73 million working days per year.

It is estimated that pneumonia, diarrhea, tuberculosis and malaria, which account for 20% of global disease burden, receive less than one percent of total public and private funds devoted to health research.

Geography

In China, India and Indonesia, twice as many people are dying from diarrheal diseases as from HIV/AIDS.

The average person in the developing world uses 2.64 gallons of water a day. The average person in the United Kingdom uses 35.66 gallons of water per day. The average person in the United States uses between 100 and 175 gallons every day at home.

In 1998, 308,000 people died from war in Africa, but more than two million (six times as many) died from diarrheal disease

These statistics are generally accepted by United Nation, World Health Organization and Millennium Development Goals.