Environment & Energy

Key facts
In 2022, 57% of the global population (4.6 billion people) used a safely managed sanitation service.
Over 1.5 billion people still do not have basic sanitation services, such as private toilets or latrines.
Of these, 419 million still defecate in the open, for example in street gutters, behind bushes or into open bodies of water.
In 2020, 44% of the household wastewater generated globally was discharged without safe treatment (1).
At least 10% of the world’s population is thought to consume food irrigated by wastewater.
Poor sanitation reduces human well-being, social and economic development due to impacts such as anxiety, risk of sexual assault, and lost opportunities for education and work.
Poor sanitation is linked to transmission of diarrhoeal diseases such as cholera and dysentery, as well as typhoid, intestinal worm infections and polio. It exacerbates stunting and contributes to the spread of antimicrobial resistance.