Number of people in need of water

The number of people living under severe lack of water is growing daily Access to freshwater around the world is increasingly becoming a problem as more and more people don't have access to enough of it.

The number of people living under severe lack of water is growing daily

Not enough water

By 2050 almost 4 billion people will live in areas under severe water stress compared to 1.6 billion in 2000. Water stress or scarcity is the lack of fresh water resources to meet demand for safe drinking water, households, farming/irrigation and industry. Another billion people will live in areas of less severe water-stress.

In 2000, 4 billion people were already affected by water stress

In 2000, 1.6 billion people faced severe water scarcity at least 6 months during the year. Another 2.4 billion faced severe water scarcity for at least one month during the year. 500 million people face severe water scarcity all the time.

Behind each number are human faces

Water scarcity has big consequences for those affected. As one 10 year old child puts it:

“Of course I wish I were in school. I want to learn to read and write. But how can I? My mother needs me to get water”.

- Yeni Bazan, El Alto, Bolivia.

A global risk factor

Global demand for freshwater is projected to increase by 55 percent by 2050.

In 2015, the World Economic Forum considered the lack of fresh water resources to be the largest global risk in terms of potential negative impact on the planet. In 2019, the water crisis had moved to 4th place only “beaten” by:

Weapons of mass destruction
Failure of climate-change mitigation and adaptation
Extreme weather events.

The poor pay more

The highest prices for water are often paid by poor people who do not have direct access to water. In some cases, prices can be 500 times higher than what is paid by people who have direct connection to their houses.

It’s a problem of distribution

Globally, there is actually enough water to meet everyone's needs. But water is not distributed equally around the planet, and this creates problems - especially in some of the world's poorer countries.

The virtual water trade

Countries lacking water often indirectly export large quantities of their already limited water resources to richer countries through trade.

Check out the effects of the “hidden” virtual water trade.

Water

1,352,220,178,128

Tonnes of 'virtual' water traded

Globally, this year

Explore this fact

Sources

T2

Report: OECD Environmental Outlook to 2050

T2

An estimated 3.9 billion people (over half the world population) are expected to be living in areas with high water stress by 2050, mostly in non-OECD countries. High water stress is defined as severe water scarcity during at least half the year.