Hygiene Promotion - IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre

Appendix 4. WASH facts and figures1. billion people in the world do not have access to safe water, roughly one-sixth of theworld’s population.2. 2.4 billion people in the world do not have access to adequate sanitation, about twofifthsof the world’s population.3. 2.2 million people in developing countries, most of them children, die every year fromdiseases associated with lack of access to safe drinking water, inadequate sanitationand poor hygiene.4. Some 6,000 children die every day from diseases associated with lack of access tosafe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene – equivalent to 20 jumbojets crashing every day.5. At any one time it is estimated that half of the world’s hospital beds are occupied bypatients suffering from water-borne diseases.6. 200 million people in the world are infected with schistosomiasis, of whom 20 millionsuffer severe consequences. The disease is still found in 74 countries of the world.Scientific studies show that a 77% reduction of incidence from the disease wasachieved through well-designed water and sanitation interventions.7. The average distance that women in Africa and Asia walk to collect water is 6 km.8. The weight of water that women in Africa and Asia carry on their heads is theequivalent of your airport luggage allowance (20kg).9. The average person in the developing world uses 10 litres of water a day.10. The average person in the United Kingdom uses 135 litres of water every day.11. One flush of your toilet uses as much water as the average person in the developingworld uses for a whole day’s washing, cleaning, cooking and drinking.12. Comparative costs: In Europe $11 billion is spent each year on ice cream; in USAand Europe, $17 billion is spent on pet food; in Europe $105 billion is spent annuallyon alcoholic drinks, ten times the amount required to ensure water, sanitation andhygiene for all.13. In the past 10 years diarrhoea has killed more children than all the people lost toarmed conflict since World War II.14. In China, India and Indonesia twice as many people are dying from diarrhoealdiseases as from HIV/AIDS.15. In 1998, 308,000 people died from war in Africa, but more than two million (six timesas many) died of diarrhoeal disease.16. The population of the Kibeira slum in Nairobi, Kenya pay up to five times the price fora litre of water than the average American citizen.17. An estimated 25% of people in developing country cities use water vendorspurchasing their water at significantly higher prices than piped water.18. Projections for 2025 indicate that the number of people living in water-stressedcountries will increase to 3 billion – a six-fold increase. Today, 470 million people livein regions where severe shortages exist.19. The simple act of washing hands with soap and water can reduce diarrhoeal diseaseby one-third.IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre 77