![]() | This article needs to be updated.(March 2020) |
This is a list of countries by the proportion of their population using improved sanitation facilities includes access to toilets and safe drinking water.
Figures used in this chart are based on data compiled and uploaded by the World Bank in May 2013 through their World Development Indicators initiative. [1] The information was provided by the respective governments of the listed countries. As the compiled figures are not collected with the same methodology and with different levels of rigor, there are limitations in their reliability in forming comparisons.
Sanitation as defined by the World Health Organization:
"Sanitation generally refers to the provision of facilities and services for the safe disposal of human urine and feces. Inadequate sanitation is a major cause of disease world-wide and improving sanitation is known to have a significant beneficial impact on health both in households and across communities. The word 'sanitation' also refers to the maintenance of hygienic conditions, through services such as garbage collection and wastewater disposal. [2]
The United Nations states that improved sanitation facilities "ensure hygienic separation of human excreta from human contact." [3] They include in their definition:
The Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation of WHO and UNICEF has defined improved sanitation as follows:
The World Bank states: [12]
"Access to improved sanitation facilities refers to the percentage of the population with at least adequate access to excreta disposal facilities that can effectively prevent human, animal, and insect contact with excreta. Improved facilities range from simple but protected pit latrines to flush toilets with a sewerage connection. To be effective, facilities must be correctly constructed and properly maintained."
The following Table is based on The World Bank basic sanitation DataBank. [13]
Country| | 2020 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Afghanistan | 22 | 27 | 35 | 43 | 50 |
Albania | 89 | 92 | 95 | 98 | 99 |
Algeria | 84 | 86 | 87 | 87 | 86 |
American Samoa | 65 | 65 | 63 | 57 | 54 |
Andorra | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
Angola | 28 | 35 | 41 | 47 | 52 |
Antigua and Barbuda | 82 | 84 | 86 | 88 | |
Argentina | 87 | 90 | 93 | 95 | |
Armenia | 87 | 89 | 91 | 93 | 94 |
Aruba | 98 | 98 | 98 | 98 | |
Australia | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
Austria | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
Azerbaijan | 62 | 72 | 85 | 96 | |
Bahamas | 88 | 90 | 93 | 95 | |
Bahrain | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
Bangladesh | 24 | 31 | 39 | 47 | 54 |
Barbados | 89 | 91 | 94 | 96 | 98 |
Belarus | 92 | 93 | 95 | 98 | 98 |
Belgium | 99 | 99 | 99 | 99 | 99 |
Belize | 82 | 84 | 86 | 87 | 88 |
Benin | 9 | 11 | 13 | 15 | 17 |
Bermuda | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
Bhutan | 47 | 55 | 63 | 70 | 77 |
Bolivia | 35 | 40 | 48 | 57 | 66 |
Bosnia and Herzegovina | 95 | 95 | 95 | 95 | |
Botswana | 52 | 59 | 67 | 75 | 80 |
Brazil | 73 | 78 | 82 | 86 | 90 |
British Virgin Islands | 97 | 97 | 97 | 97 | |
Bulgaria | 86 | 86 | 86 | 86 | 86 |
Burkina Faso | 11 | 14 | 17 | 20 | 22 |
Burundi | 45 | 46 | 46 | 46 | 46 |
Cabo Verde | 40 | 50 | 61 | 70 | 79 |
Cambodia | 10 | 23 | 38 | 53 | 69 |
Cameroon | 38 | 39 | 41 | 43 | 45 |
Canada | 100 | 100 | 100 | 99 | 99 |
Cayman Islands | 84 | 84 | 84 | ||
Central African Republic | 21 | 20 | 18 | 16 | 14 |
Chad | 10 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
Chile | 92 | 95 | 97 | 99 | 100 |
China | 57 | 66 | 76 | 84 | 92 |
Colombia | 75 | 80 | 84 | 89 | 94 |
Comoros | 29 | 33 | 34 | 36 | |
Congo, Dem. Rep. | 24 | 22 | 20 | 17 | 15 |
Congo, Rep. | 12 | 14 | 16 | 19 | 20 |
Costa Rica | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 |
Côte d'Ivoire | 21 | 23 | 27 | 31 | 35 |
Croatia | 96 | 96 | 96 | 96 | 97 |
Cuba | 88 | 88 | 89 | 90 | 91 |
Curaçao | 98 | 98 | 99 | 99 | |
Cyprus | 100 | 100 | 100 | 99 | 99 |
Czech Republic | 99 | 99 | 99 | 99 | 99 |
Denmark | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
Djibouti | 47 | 48 | 55 | 61 | 67 |
Dominica | 64 | 70 | 77 | 80 | |
Dominican Republic | 77 | 80 | 82 | 85 | 87 |
Ecuador | 69 | 74 | 80 | 86 | 92 |
Egypt, Arab Rep. | 91 | 93 | 94 | 96 | 97 |
El Salvador | 83 | 84 | 83 | 83 | 82 |
Equatorial Guinea | 55 | 60 | 64 | 66 | |
Eritrea | 8 | 10 | 11 | 12 | |
Estonia | 100 | 100 | 99 | 99 | 99 |
Eswatini | 48 | 52 | 56 | 61 | 64 |
Ethiopia | 3 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 9 |
Fiji | 80 | 83 | 89 | 96 | 99 |
Finland | 99 | 99 | 99 | 99 | 99 |
France | 99 | 99 | 99 | 99 | 99 |
French Polynesia | 98 | 98 | 98 | 97 | 97 |
Gabon | 34 | 39 | 44 | 49 | 50 |
Gambia, The | 51 | 46 | 46 | 46 | 47 |
Georgia | 91 | 89 | 88 | 87 | 86 |
Germany | 99 | 99 | 99 | 99 | 99 |
Ghana | 7 | 11 | 15 | 19 | 24 |
Gibraltar | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
Greece | 98 | 98 | 99 | 99 | 99 |
Greenland | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
Grenada | 90 | 91 | 92 | 91 | |
Guam | 89 | 89 | 90 | 90 | |
Guatemala | 62 | 64 | 65 | 67 | 68 |
Guinea | 9 | 13 | 18 | 24 | 30 |
Guinea-Bissau | 5 | 8 | 11 | 14 | 18 |
Guyana | 79 | 81 | 83 | 85 | 86 |
Haiti | 17 | 22 | 27 | 33 | 37 |
Honduras | 63 | 69 | 74 | 79 | 84 |
Hong Kong SAR, China | 97 | 97 | 97 | 97 | 97 |
Hungary | 98 | 98 | 98 | 98 | 98 |
Iceland | 99 | 99 | 99 | 99 | 99 |
India | 15 | 28 | 42 | 57 | 71 |
Indonesia | 38 | 49 | 61 | 74 | 86 |
Iran, Islamic Rep. | 78 | 82 | 85 | 88 | 90 |
Iraq | 70 | 74 | 83 | 93 | 100 |
Ireland | 90 | 90 | 91 | 91 | 91 |
Israel | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
Italy | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
Jamaica | 83 | 84 | 85 | 86 | 87 |
Japan | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
Jordan | 99 | 98 | 98 | 97 | 97 |
Kazakhstan | 97 | 97 | 97 | 98 | 98 |
Kenya | 31 | 31 | 32 | 32 | 33 |
Kiribati | 32 | 37 | 41 | 43 | 46 |
Korea, Dem. People's Rep. | 75 | 78 | 82 | 85 | |
Korea, Rep. | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
Kuwait | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
Kyrgyz Republic | 92 | 93 | 95 | 97 | 98 |
Lao PDR | 28 | 43 | 56 | 70 | 79 |
Latvia | 88 | 89 | 90 | 92 | 92 |
Lebanon | 77 | 81 | 87 | 94 | 99 |
Lesotho | 8 | 20 | 30 | 41 | 50 |
Liberia | 13 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
Libya | 90 | 91 | 91 | 92 | 92 |
Liechtenstein | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
Lithuania | 84 | 87 | 90 | 92 | 94 |
Luxembourg | 98 | 98 | 98 | 98 | 98 |
Macao SAR, China | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
Madagascar | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 12 |
Malawi | 21 | 22 | 24 | 25 | 27 |
Malaysia | 97 | 98 | 99 | 100 | |
Maldives | 75 | 82 | 88 | 94 | 99 |
Mali | 16 | 22 | 29 | 37 | 45 |
Malta | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
Marshall Islands | 80 | 82 | 83 | 84 | |
Mauritania | 17 | 23 | 32 | 43 | 50 |
Mauritius | 90 | 92 | 94 | 96 | |
Mexico | 77 | 81 | 85 | 89 | 92 |
Micronesia, Fed. Sts. | 25 | 46 | 67 | 88 | |
Moldova | 74 | 75 | 75 | 76 | 79 |
Monaco | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
Mongolia | 45 | 50 | 56 | 62 | 68 |
Montenegro | 93 | 96 | 98 | ||
Morocco | 68 | 73 | 78 | 83 | 87 |
Mozambique | 9 | 15 | 22 | 29 | 37 |
Myanmar | 63 | 66 | 69 | 71 | 74 |
Namibia | 28 | 30 | 32 | 34 | 35 |
Nauru | 66 | 66 | 66 | 66 | |
Nepal | 14 | 27 | 42 | 59 | 77 |
Netherlands | 98 | 98 | 98 | 98 | 98 |
New Caledonia | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
New Zealand | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
Nicaragua | 57 | 62 | 67 | 72 | 73 |
Niger | 5 | 8 | 10 | 13 | 15 |
Nigeria | 29 | 31 | 34 | 38 | 43 |
North Macedonia | 89 | 89 | 92 | 95 | 98 |
Northern Mariana Islands | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79 |
Norway | 98 | 98 | 98 | 98 | 98 |
Oman | 89 | 92 | 96 | 99 | 99 |
Pakistan | 30 | 40 | 50 | 59 | 68 |
Palau | 91 | 94 | 97 | 99 | 100 |
Panama | 62 | 67 | 73 | 79 | 85 |
Papua New Guinea | 18 | 18 | 19 | 19 | 19 |
Paraguay | 70 | 77 | 82 | 88 | 93 |
Peru | 63 | 68 | 71 | 75 | 79 |
Philippines | 61 | 63 | 69 | 75 | 82 |
Poland | 89 | 92 | 95 | 99 | 100 |
Portugal | 97 | 98 | 99 | 99 | 100 |
Puerto Rico | 98 | 99 | 99 | 100 | 100 |
Qatar | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
Romania | 75 | 79 | 83 | 87 | |
Russian Federation | 84 | 86 | 87 | 88 | 89 |
Rwanda | 45 | 52 | 58 | 64 | 69 |
Samoa | 94 | 95 | 95 | 96 | 97 |
San Marino | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
São Tomé and Príncipe | 20 | 27 | 34 | 41 | 48 |
Saudi Arabia | 98 | 99 | 99 | 100 | 100 |
Senegal | 37 | 42 | 47 | 52 | 57 |
Serbia | 95 | 96 | 97 | 97 | 98 |
Seychelles | 94 | 96 | 98 | 100 | 100 |
Sierra Leone | 10 | 12 | 13 | 15 | 17 |
Singapore | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
Sint Maarten (Dutch part) | 98 | 99 | 99 | 99 | |
Slovak Republic | 100 | 99 | 98 | 98 | 98 |
Slovenia | 98 | 98 | 98 | 98 | 98 |
Small states | 61 | 63 | 68 | 71 | 72 |
Solomon Islands | 20 | 22 | 27 | 32 | 35 |
Somalia | 20 | 24 | 29 | 34 | 39 |
South Africa | 59 | 64 | 69 | 74 | 78 |
South Sudan | 11 | 16 | |||
Spain | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
Sri Lanka | 77 | 81 | 86 | 91 | 94 |
St. Kitts and Nevis | 86 | 90 | 93 | 95 | |
St. Lucia | 85 | 85 | 84 | 83 | 83 |
St. Martin (French part) | 99 | 99 | 99 | 100 | 100 |
St. Vincent and the Grenadines | 71 | 77 | 83 | 87 | |
Sudan | 21 | 22 | 28 | 35 | 37 |
Suriname | 78 | 80 | 83 | 86 | 90 |
Sweden | 99 | 99 | 99 | 99 | 99 |
Switzerland | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
Syrian Arab Republic | 90 | 91 | 91 | 90 | 90 |
Tajikistan | 90 | 92 | 93 | 95 | 97 |
Tanzania | 5 | 12 | 19 | 26 | 32 |
Thailand | 92 | 94 | 95 | 97 | 99 |
Timor-Leste | 40 | 46 | 51 | 57 | |
Togo | 10 | 11 | 13 | 16 | 19 |
Tonga | 89 | 90 | 93 | 93 | 93 |
Trinidad and Tobago | 90 | 91 | 93 | 94 | 94 |
Tunisia | 77 | 82 | 87 | 92 | 97 |
Turkey | 87 | 90 | 93 | 96 | 99 |
Turkmenistan | 93 | 94 | 95 | 97 | 99 |
Turks and Caicos Islands | 81 | 83 | 86 | 88 | |
Tuvalu | 80 | 83 | 84 | ||
Uganda | 17 | 18 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
Ukraine | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 |
United Arab Emirates | 97 | 98 | 99 | 99 | |
United Kingdom | 99 | 99 | 99 | 99 | 99 |
United States | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
Uruguay | 93 | 94 | 95 | 97 | 98 |
Uzbekistan | 93 | 96 | 99 | 100 | 100 |
Vanuatu | 56 | 56 | 55 | 53 | 53 |
Venezuela, RB | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | |
Vietnam | 52 | 62 | 71 | 81 | 89 |
Virgin Islands (U.S.) | 99 | 99 | 99 | 99 | 99 |
West Bank and Gaza | 90 | 91 | 94 | 96 | 99 |
Yemen, Rep. | 45 | 48 | 50 | 52 | 54 |
Zambia | 22 | 25 | 27 | 30 | 32 |
Zimbabwe | 45 | 44 | 41 | 38 | 35 |
Sanitation refers to public health conditions related to clean drinking water and treatment and disposal of human excreta and sewage. Preventing human contact with feces is part of sanitation, as is hand washing with soap. Sanitation systems aim to protect human health by providing a clean environment that will stop the transmission of disease, especially through the fecal–oral route. For example, diarrhea, a main cause of malnutrition and stunted growth in children, can be reduced through adequate sanitation. There are many other diseases which are easily transmitted in communities that have low levels of sanitation, such as ascariasis, cholera, hepatitis, polio, schistosomiasis, and trachoma, to name just a few.
A latrine is a toilet or an even simpler facility that is used as a toilet within a sanitation system. For example, it can be a communal trench in the earth in a camp to be used as emergency sanitation, a hole in the ground, or more advanced designs, including pour-flush systems.
A pit latrine, also known as pit toilet, is a type of toilet that collects human waste in a hole in the ground. Urine and feces enter the pit through a drop hole in the floor, which might be connected to a toilet seat or squatting pan for user comfort. Pit latrines can be built to function without water or they can have a water seal. When properly built and maintained, pit latrines can decrease the spread of disease by reducing the amount of human feces in the environment from open defecation. This decreases the transfer of pathogens between feces and food by flies. These pathogens are major causes of infectious diarrhea and intestinal worm infections. Infectious diarrhea resulted in about 700,000 deaths in children under five years old in 2011 and 250 million lost school days. Pit latrines are a low-cost method of separating feces from people.
A bucket toilet is a basic form of a dry toilet whereby a bucket (pail) is used to collect excreta. Usually, feces and urine are collected together in the same bucket, leading to odor issues. The bucket may be situated inside a dwelling, or in a nearby small structure.
Ecological sanitation, commonly abbreviated as ecosan, is an approach to sanitation provision which aims to safely reuse excreta in agriculture. It is an approach, rather than a technology or a device which is characterized by a desire to "close the loop", mainly for the nutrients and organic matter between sanitation and agriculture in a safe manner. One of the aims is to minimise the use of non-renewable resources. When properly designed and operated, ecosan systems provide a hygienically safe system to convert human excreta into nutrients to be returned to the soil, and water to be returned to the land. Ecosan is also called resource-oriented sanitation.
Community-led total sanitation (CLTS) is an approach used mainly in developing countries to improve sanitation and hygiene practices in a community. The approach tries to achieve behavior change in mainly rural people by a process of "triggering", leading to spontaneous and long-term abandonment of open defecation practices. It focuses on spontaneous and long-lasting behavior change of an entire community. The term "triggering" is central to the CLTS process: It refers to ways of igniting community interest in ending open defecation, usually by building simple toilets, such as pit latrines. CLTS involves actions leading to increased self-respect and pride in one's community. It also involves shame and disgust about one's own open defecation behaviors. CLTS takes an approach to rural sanitation that works without hardware subsidies and that facilitates communities to recognize the problem of open defecation and take collective action to clean up and become "open defecation free".
Sustainable sanitation is a sanitation system designed to meet certain criteria and to work well over the long-term. Sustainable sanitation systems consider the entire "sanitation value chain", from the experience of the user, excreta and wastewater collection methods, transportation or conveyance of waste, treatment, and reuse or disposal. The Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SuSanA) includes five features in its definition of "sustainable sanitation": Systems need to be economically and socially acceptable, technically and institutionally appropriate and protect the environment and natural resources.
Improved sanitation is a term used to categorize types of sanitation for monitoring purposes. It refers to the management of human feces at the household level. The term was coined by the Joint Monitoring Program (JMP) for Water Supply and Sanitation of UNICEF and WHO in 2002 to help monitor the progress towards Goal Number 7 of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The opposite of "improved sanitation" has been termed "unimproved sanitation" in the JMP definitions. The same terms are used to monitor progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 6 from 2015 onwards. Here, they are a component of the definition for "safely managed sanitation service".
A toilet is a piece of sanitary hardware that collects human urine and feces, and sometimes toilet paper, usually for disposal. Flush toilets use water, while dry or non-flush toilets do not. They can be designed for a sitting position popular in Europe and North America with a toilet seat, with additional considerations for those with disabilities, or for a squatting posture more popular in Asia, known as a squat toilet. In urban areas, flush toilets are usually connected to a sewer system; in isolated areas, to a septic tank. The waste is known as blackwater and the combined effluent, including other sources, is sewage. Dry toilets are connected to a pit, removable container, composting chamber, or other storage and treatment device, including urine diversion with a urine-diverting toilet.
A sanitation worker is a person responsible for cleaning, maintaining, operating, or emptying the equipment or technology at any step of the sanitation chain. This is the definition used in the narrower sense within the WASH sector. More broadly speaking, sanitation workers may also be involved in cleaning streets, parks, public spaces, sewers, stormwater drains, and public toilets. Another definition is: "The moment an individual’s waste is outsourced to another, it becomes sanitation work." Some organizations use the term specifically for municipal solid waste collectors, whereas others exclude the workers involved in management of solid waste sector from its definition.
The Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply and Sanitation by WHO and UNICEF is the official United Nations mechanism tasked with monitoring progress towards the Sustainable Development Goal Number 6 since 2016.
A dry toilet is a toilet which, unlike a flush toilet, does not use flush water. Dry toilets do not use water to move excreta along or block odors. They do not produce sewage, and are not connected to a sewer system or septic tank. Instead, excreta falls through a drop hole.
WASH is an acronym that stands for "water, sanitation and hygiene". It is used widely by non-governmental organizations and aid agencies in developing countries. The purposes of providing access to WASH services include achieving public health gains, improving human dignity in the case of sanitation, implementing the human right to water and sanitation, reducing the burden of collecting drinking water for women, reducing risks of violence against women, improving education and health outcomes at schools and health facilities, and reducing water pollution. Access to WASH services is also an important component of water security. Universal, affordable and sustainable access to WASH is a key issue within international development and is the focus of the first two targets of Sustainable Development Goal 6. Targets 6.1 and 6.2 aim at equitable and accessible water and sanitation for all. In 2017, it was estimated that 2.3 billion people live without basic sanitation facilities and 844 million people live without access to safe and clean drinking water.
Open defecation is the human practice of defecating outside rather than into a toilet. People may choose fields, bushes, forests, ditches, streets, canals, or other open spaces for defecation. They do so either because they do not have a toilet readily accessible or due to traditional cultural practices. The practice is common where sanitation infrastructure and services are not available. Even if toilets are available, behavior change efforts may still be needed to promote the use of toilets. 'Open defecation free' (ODF) is a term used to describe communities that have shifted to using toilets instead of open defecation. This can happen, for example, after community-led total sanitation programs have been implemented.
A urine-diverting dry toilet (UDDT) is a type of dry toilet with urine diversion that can be used to provide safe, affordable sanitation in a variety of contexts worldwide. The separate collection of feces and urine without any flush water has many advantages, such as odor-free operation and pathogen reduction by drying. While dried feces and urine harvested from UDDTs can be and routinely are used in agriculture, many UDDT installations do not apply any sort of recovery scheme. The UDDT is an example of a technology that can be used to achieve a sustainable sanitation system. This dry excreta management system is an alternative to pit latrines and flush toilets, especially where water is scarce, a connection to a sewer system and centralized wastewater treatment plant is not feasible or desired, fertilizer and soil conditioner are needed for agriculture, or groundwater pollution should be minimized.
Container-based sanitation refers to a sanitation system where toilets collect human excreta in sealable, removable containers that are transported to treatment facilities. This type of sanitation involves a commercial service which provides certain types of portable toilets, and delivers empty containers when picking up full ones. The service transports and safely disposes of or reuses collected excreta. The cost of collection of excreta is usually borne by the users. With suitable development, support and functioning partnerships, CBS can be used to provide low-income urban populations with safe collection, transport and treatment of excrement at a lower cost than installing and maintaining sewers. In most cases, CBS is based on the use of urine-diverting dry toilets.
Emergency sanitation is the management and technical processes required to provide sanitation in emergency situations. Emergency sanitation is required during humanitarian relief operations for refugees, people affected by natural disasters and internally displaced persons. There are three phases of emergency response: Immediate, short term and long term. In the immediate phase, the focus is on managing open defecation, and toilet technologies might include very basic latrines, pit latrines, bucket toilets, container-based toilets, chemical toilets. The short term phase might also involve technologies such as urine-diverting dry toilets, septic tanks, decentralized wastewater systems. Providing handwashing facilities and management of fecal sludge are also part of emergency sanitation.
Sustainable Development Goal 6 is about "clean water and sanitation for all". It is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015. According to the United Nations, the goal is to: "Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all." The goal has eight targets to be achieved by 2030. Progress toward the targets will be measured by using eleven indicators.
Vermifilter toilet, also known as a primary vermifilter,vermidigester toilet, tiger toilet or tiger worm toilet, is an on-site sanitation system in which human excreta are delivered from a toilet onto a medium containing a worm-based ecosystem. Faecal solids are trapped on the surface of the vermifilter where digestion takes place. Liquids typically flow through drainage media, before the effluent is infiltrated into the soil.