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CLOSING THE
LAST GREAT DIVIDE
2.4 BILLION
PEOPLE WITHOUT
ACCESS TO ADEQUATE
SANITATION
South Africa has been working
to address the sanitation backlog
since 1994, and although big strides
have been made, almost 20% of
South Africans are still without an
improved sanitation service.
Globally, there are 2.4 billion people without access to adequate sanitation. There
are 45 countries in the world where less than half of the population has access to
adequate sanitation and hygiene.
In South Africa, the sanitation backlog stood at 20.5 million (or 51% of all
households) in 1994. The country has made significant progress since then and
turned this around to achieve the Millennium Development Goals for sanitation in
2008, but there is still significant work to be done. For example, in 2015, 4.9% of
South Africans had no toilet at all and 19.5% of South Africans are still without an
improved sanitation service.
SANITATION FACILITY USED BY HOUSEHOLDS, BY PROVINCE, 2014 (IN THOUSANDS)
TYPE OF SANITATION FACILITY WC EC NC FS KZN NW GAU MPU LIM SA
Flush toilet connected to
public sewerage system
1589 714 213 617 1157 514 3805 426 264 9300
Flush toilet connected to
sepctic tank
33 20 13 17 172 58 103 55 60 531
*
* * *
Chemical toilet 8 28 31 2 70
*
Pit latrine/toilet with
vantilation pipe
2 588 34 105 683 211 165 269 473 2530
Pit latrine/toilet without
vantilation pipe
5 224 22 67 471 327 267 328 598 2310
Bucket toilet (collected by
municipality)
37 12 9 42 3 3 51 4 162
*
Bucket toilet (emptied by
household)
*
*
* *
12 2 11 34
*
*
Ecological Sanitation
System
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
2 13
*
None 28 132 17 17 124 55 31 81 74 558
*
*
Other 2 6 17 21 49
* *
* * *
Unspecified 2 7 3 21 6 44
*
Total 1720 1695 312 883 2663 1177 4501 1168 1483 15602
Note: Due to rounding, numbers to not necessarily add up to totals.
Values based on three or less unweighted cases are considered too small to
provide accurate estimates, and values are therefore replaced with asterisks.
Source: Statistics South Africa
Water Facts & Futures: Rethinking South Africa’s Water Future | Page
73