Water and Sanitation
Current Status + Progress
Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)
Universal access to safe drinking water and sanitation is a fundamental need and a human right. Both are necessary to ensure good hygiene and health. Securing access for all would go a long way in reducing illness and death, especially among young children.
The WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) has monitored the use of drinking water and sanitation facilities worldwide since 1990. The latest JMP report, looking back on 25 years of water, sanitation and hygiene monitoring, provides a comprehensive assessment of progress since 1990. The MDG target for drinking water was achieved in 2010 but the world has missed the sanitation target by almost 700 million people. In 2015, 663 million people still lack improved drinking water sources, 2.4 billion lack improved sanitation facilities and 946 million still practice open defecation.
Publication 
Progress on Sanitation and Drinking Water 2015 Assessement and MDG update
Looking back on 25 years of water, sanitation and hygiene monitoring, the report provides a comprehensive assessment of progress since 1990. The MDG target for drinking water was achieved in 2010 but the world has missed the sanitation target by almost 700 million people. In 2015, 663 million people still lack improved drinking water sources, 2.4 billion lack improved sanitation facilities and 946 million still practice open defecation.
Web Application 
JMP Progress on Sanitation and Drinking Water 2015 data dashboard
How has your country been progressing in the areas of water and sanitation? How many more people now have access to piped water and to what extent has open defecation decreased since 1990? An interactive dashboard shows the latest data at the country level on improved water and sanitation around the world from 1990–2015. Since national averages often hide differences, the data is shown as a total and also broken down by urban and rural areas. Data are drawn from the latest JMP report.