Water and sanitation data for Africa (2000)

Africa has the lowest overall water supply coverage of any region in the world. Overall 62% of Africa’s population lives in the rural areas, and 30% live in urban areas. The poor water supply has resulted in an endemic water and sanitation crisis that resulting in debilitating diseases and conditions that kill in large numbers and limit economic growth and evelopment.

 

• Only 62% of Africans have access to improved water supply
  
• The situation is much worse in rural areas where only 47% of Africans have access to water compared to 85% in urban areas.
  
• Fourteen Africa countries have 50% or less coverage for their national water supply.

• Only 60% of the African population has sanitation coverage.
  
• Sanitation coverage ranges from 45% in rural areas to 84% in urban areas.
  
• There are 10 countries with less than 50% coverage for both water and sanitation

• According to data from the WHO and UNICEF, urban water services have not changed much over the last decade or so from 1990 to 2000 across Africa, for both water and sanitation.
  
• In terms of numbers 135 million people gained access to better water supplies in the decade 1990-2000, 87 million (64%) in urban areas.

• Rural water supply increased slightly while rural sanitation has fallen.
  
  
• 98 million people gained access to improved sanitation from 1990-2000, of which 84 million (86%) were in rural areas.

At current rates, Africa’s population is set to increase by 65% over the next 25 years. This means another 400 million people will need to be provided with clean water and access to improved sanitation facilities over the next 25 years, at three times the rate currently achieved

At the same time nearly half of Africa's population (325 million people) is threatened by desertification. When combined with extreme poverty and severe land degradation, the threat acutely affects millions of Africans, a panel of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) reported in June 2002

Data Sources based on data from the report presents the findings of the fourth assessment by the WHO and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme and the UNICEF End of Decades Database