Environment and Energy

Lack of sanitation is a silent global crisis

• 2.6 billion people have no access to improved sanitation services. That is 41 per cent of the world's population or two in every five people
• Globally, only 39 per cent of people living in rural areas have access to improved sanitation facilities compared to 80 per cent of people living in urban areas. The largest regional disparities are found in South Asia
• 88 per cent of diarrhoeal deaths are due to a lack of access to sanitation facilities, together with inadequate availability of water for hygiene and unsafe drinking water
• More than 5,000 children under five die every day due to a lack of sanitation and hygiene, resulting in more than 1.5 million diarrhoea-related deaths among children. This amounts to 18 per cent of all under-five deaths
• Of the approximately 120 million children born in the developing world each year, half will live in households without access to improved sanitation facilities
• 980 million children under 18 live without access to improved sanitation facilities, 280 million of which are under five years old
• Diarrhoea is the 2nd highest single cause of child mortality after pneumonia
• The annual cost of meeting the water and sanitation MDG targets by 2015 is $11.3 billion ; $ 9.5 billion of which is for sanitation alone

Benefits of improving sanitation

• The average economic benefit of a $1 investment in sanitation is $9.1 - it is $4.4 on water
• Achieving the MDG sanitation target would result in $66 billion of annual economic benefits including time savings, value of productive and school days gained, value of averted illness and death, and savings in related medical expenses
• Washing hands with soap or ash at critical times can reduce the number of diarrhoeal cases by 47 per cent and reduce acute respiratory illnesses by 50 per cent
• Providing private and separate sanitary latrines in school can increase girls’ enrolment by 11 per cent
• For every 1 percent increase in female literacy (due to increased school attendance where proper sanitation facilities exist), a country’s economy can grow by 0.3 per cent
• Improved sanitation alone can reduce diarrhoea-related morbidity by more than one third; when combined with hygiene awareness and behaviours can reduce it by two thirds

Improving sanitation faces challenges but has made progress

• Between 1990-2004, 1.2 billion people gained access to improved sanitation
• Due to population growth, 1.6 billion people need to gain access to improved sanitation by 2015 to meet the MDG sanitation target
• In 2015, the world population is expected to be 7.2 billion
• If the MDG 2015 is achieved, 1.8 billion people will still be without improved sanitation

For more information visit: www.sanitationyear2008.org