UN: 1 in 4 Lacks Access to Safe Drinking Water

According to the UN, one in four people worldwide lacks access to safe drinking water. More than two billion people globally still do not have access to safely managed drinking water, according to the United Nations.

UN health and children's agencies said one in four people worldwide did not have access to safely managed drinking water last year, with over 100 million people still dependent on surface water consumption – for example from rivers, lakes and canals.

The World Health Organization and UNICEF said that lagging water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services expose billions of people to a greater risk of disease. In a joint study, they reported that the world remains far from achieving the goal of universal coverage of such services by 2030.

Since 2015, 961 million people have gained access to safely managed drinking water, with coverage increasing from 68% to 74%, the report states. Of the 2.1 billion people last year who still did not have safely managed drinking water services, 106 million used surface water.

Regarding sanitation, 1.2 billion people have gained access to safely managed sanitation services since 2015, with coverage increasing from 48% to 58%, according to the study.

Since 2015, 1.6 billion people have gained access to basic hygiene services – a handwashing facility with soap and water at home – with coverage increasing from 66% to 80%, according to the study.