Astounding Water Stats — Every 90 seconds a child dies from lack of clean water

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1 in 10 – lack access to safe water— 663 million people.1,9

1 in 3 – lack access to a toilet — 2.4 billion people 1,9

2X the population of the United States lives without access to safe water.1,9

More people have a cell phone than a toilet.1,10

In low and middle-income countries, 1 in 3 of all healthcare facilities lack a safe and clean water source.1

Women and children spend 125 million hours each day collecting water. On average they will walk 3.7 miles a day to collect water.1,2,3,6,7

Women and girls living without a toilet spend 266 million hours every day finding a place to use the restroom.4

Every 90 seconds a child dies from a water-related disease.1

Water-related diseases harm more than 1.5 billion people each year.1

For every $1 invested in water and sanitation we gain $4 in economic return.11

Because of the lack of sanitation and safe water, $260 billion is lost around the world each year.11

Just from deaths avoided, 18.5 billion dollars would be saved every year.11

$24 billion in lost economic benefits each year because of the time spent gathering clean water.11

We need about 1 trillion dollars to solve the water problem, but US annual aid is only about 8 billion dollar. In fact, it is not even the government’s job to give this money. With individual’s charitable gifts, we can raise this money.1,12r

  1. World Health Organization and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP). (2015) Progress on Drinking Water and Sanitation, 2015 Update and MDG Assessment.
  2. World Health Organization. (2012). Global costs and benefits of drinking-water supply and sanitation interventions to reach the MDG target and universal coverage.
  3. WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply and Sanitation. (2010). Progress on Sanitation and Drinking-Water, 2010 Update and MDG Assessment.
  4. Domestos WaterAid WSSCC. (2015). Why we can’t wait. A report on sanitation and hygiene for women and girls.
  5. UN Water. (2013). UN-Water factsheet on water and gender, World Water Day 2013.
  6. World Water Assessment Programme, UNESCO. (2015). Water for Women: Every woman counts. Every second counts.
  7. United Nations, OHCHR, UN-HABITAT, WHO. (2010). The Right to Water, Fact Sheet No. 35.
  8. (2010). Access to Water, Women’s Work and Child Outcomes.
  9. United States Census Bureau Estimates. (2015). United States and World Population Clock.
  10. International Telecommunication Union (ITU). (2015). The World in 2015 ICT Facts and Figures.
  11. World Health Organization. (2012). Global costs and benefits of drinking-water supply and sanitation interventions to reach the MDG target and universal coverage.
  12. OECD. (2015). Aid to Water Supply and Sanitation.