Who has safe drinking water?
Click any country to see how much of its population uses safely managed drinking water — and how that's changed since 2000.
Population-weighted across countries that report safely managed water (about 72% of the world's population; some countries, including China, don't report this measure). “Without safe water” is therefore a lower bound.
Overview
About two-thirds of the world's population has safely managed drinking water — an improved source, at home, available when needed and free from contamination. This map shows the share for every country, and how it has changed since 2000.
Key facts
- Roughly 67% of the world's population uses safely managed drinking water (population-weighted across reporting countries).
- Around 2 billion people still lack it — most of them in sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia.
- “Safely managed” is the highest of the JMP service levels; “at least basic” is a lower bar met by far more people.
- The figures come from the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP), with values up to 2024.
Common questions
What is safely managed drinking water?
Water from an improved source that is located on premises, available when needed, and free from faecal and priority chemical contamination. It is the highest service level defined by the WHO/UNICEF JMP.
Which countries have the least access to safe water?
Access is lowest across much of sub-Saharan Africa. Many countries there have no “safely managed” figure reported, so the map shows their “at least basic” access instead.
How is the global average calculated?
It is a population-weighted average across the countries that report a safely managed figure — computed directly from the dataset, not copied from a headline.
Where does the data come from?
The WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (JMP), with population from the World Bank, compiled via Our World in Data.
Sources & methodology
Data from WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP), compiled via Our World in Data. The global average is population-weighted across the countries that report this measure; countries without reliable recent data are shown as “no data”.
Last updated: 6 July 2026.