Malawi 2015-16

In Malawi, almost all urban households (98%) have access to an improved source of drinking water
compared with only 85% of rural households (Table 2.1). Improved sources of water protect against
outside contamination so that the water is more likely to be safe to drink.
Urban and rural households rely on
different sources of drinking water.
The main sources of drinking water
for urban households are piped
water in their dwelling or yard
(41%) and public tap or standpipe
(33%). In contrast, rural households
rely on tube well or borehole
(72%), followed by unimproved
sources (15%) (Figure 2.1). In
rural areas, only 2% of households
have piped water on their premises
and 47% of households travel 30
minutes or longer round trip to
fetch drinking water.
Clean water is a basic need for
Total Urban Rural
human life. However, seven in ten
households (69%) report that they do no treat their water prior to drinking. Treatment is less common in
urban areas than rural areas; 78% of urban households do not treat water compared with 67% in rural
areas. Adding bleach or chlorine to drinking water before drinking is the most common water treatment
(20%). A total of 26% of households in Malawi are using an appropriate treatment method with 20% in
urban areas and 27% in rural areas.
Table 2.2 presents information on the percentage of households using piped water or water from a tube
well or borehole that reported availability of water in the last 2 weeks. Seventy-five percent of households
in Malawi reported having water with no interruption of at least a single day in the last 2 weeks. Urban
households are more likely to report no availability of water for at least 1 day compared with rural
households (55% versus 18%).
Trends: There was little variation in the percentage of households using water from an improved water
source between 1992 and 2004. However, the percentage has been increasing steadily from 65% in 2004 to
80% in 2010 and 87% in 2015-16.
2.2 SANITATION
Figure 2.1 Household drinking water by residence
Percent distribution of households by source of drinking water
13
4
62
10
3
8
Improved toilet facilities
Include any non-shared toilet of the following types: flush/pour flush toilets to
piped sewer systems, septic tanks, and pit latrines; ventilated improved pit
(VIP) latrines; pit latrines with slabs; and composting toilets.
Sample: Households
2
10
33
12
41
2
15
4
72
6
1
2
Unimproved source
Protected dug well
Tubewell or borehole
Public tap/standpipe
Piped to neighbor
Piped water into
dwelling/yard/plot
10 • Housing Characteristics and Household Population