Health
2,711,467

Deaths from dirty water and related diseases

Globally, this year

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Dirty water causes the death of a human being every 10 seconds

Dirty water is dangerous

Every year 3,575,000 people die from water related diseases. This is equivalent to a jumbo jet crashing every hour. Most of these people are children (2.2 million).

Really dangerous

Unclean water and poor sanitation have claimed more lives over the past 100 years than any other cause. The water-crisis claims more lives through disease than any war through guns.

Safe drinking water is a luxury

844 million people lack access to safe drinking water. This is more than the combined populations of the United States, Brazil, Japan, Germany, France and Italy.

Dirty water is making many people sick

At any given time, half of the world’s hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from a water-related disease.

But not all is bad

The good news is that it is possible to do something about it. Many organizations work to improve water conditions in developing countries. From 1990 to 2006 the number of people with access to safe drinking water has risen by 1.6 billion people.

Poverty
5,328,321,612

People without access to sewage systems

Globally, right now

Sources

T2
World Health Organization report: Safer water, better health
T2
The World Health Organization estimates that 3.575 million people die from water-related diseases a year.

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