Ranked: These countries have the least access to safe drinking water in the world, 2024

Access to safe drinking water is a fundamental human right. The United Nations General Assembly explicitly recognized people’s right to sanitation and water in 2010. Therefore, every person worldwide is entitled to adequate, uninterrupted, and potable water. This essential human need should also be affordable, not expensive, and physically accessible for personal and domestic use.

In many countries today, people encounter problems with safe drinking water. Although this natural resource is available in nearly all parts of the globe, many countries offer expensive water, and its supply is not always sustainable. Additionally, untreated and raw water has resulted in people suffering from gastrointestinal issues like diarrhea, fever, and vomiting.

With the severity of the global problem of potable water access, CEOWORLD magazine’s researchers believe readers should be more informed regarding this critical dilemma. They explained the current status of safe drinking water worldwide and included data on the countries where access to this important natural resource is problematic.

What is considered “safe drinking water”? 

Potable or safe drinking water is water that is not harmful to ingest via food preparation or directly drunk in liquid form. It comes from ground sources like aquifers, hyporheic zones, and surfaces like streams, rivers, and glaciers. Moreover, mineral water is obtained in springs. Safe drinking water undergoes sufficient treatment to levels that meet the federal and state quality standards for consumption. Microorganisms, fecal matter, viruses, bacteria, and toxic chemicals are eliminated from the liquid. Furthermore, potable water prevents the transmission of various diseases like polio, typhoid, cholera, diarrhea, and dysentery which are usually caused by microbiologically contaminated drinking water.

Which countries do not have access to potable water? 

More than 2 billion people worldwide are from water-stressed countries, according to the World Health Organization data. This trend is anticipated to worsen in some regions due to population growth and climate change. CEOWORLD magazine’s researchers included the following table, which exhibits the countries with insufficient access to safe drinking water:

Countries with Inadequate Potable Water Access: In the table below, Papua New Guinea tops the list, with 60 percent of this country’s population without enough access to microbial contamination-free drinking water. This percentage translates to 5.9 million Papua New Guinea citizens at risk of unsafe drinking water. Seven out of the top ten countries on the list are located in Africa. The residents of these locations do not have access to drinking water from improved sources. Water is also unavailable when needed and is usually contaminated with fecal and priority chemicals.

Is potable water widely available in developed countries?

Developed countries generally provide their people with enough safe drinking water. Their governments facilitate the practice of hygiene, which is an important factor in preventing numerous diseases, including diarrhea and acute respiratory infections. Switzerland is not included in the list of countries with insufficient access to potable water because the latter is not a problem in this developed country. People in Switzerland benefit from consuming the world’s safest drinking water. The Swiss Government also enforces stringent regulations for potable water treatment.

In North America, Canada and the United States are also near the bottom of the list of countries with inadequate access to safe drinking water. Merely 0.8 percent of the United States population and 0.2 percent of Canada’s are inconvenienced by this issue.

Countries with the least access to safe drinking water in the world, 2024

What is the future of safe drinking water worldwide?

Readily available and safe water is significant for public health. People can enjoy quality living if they have access to clean water for drinking, food production, and recreation. Countries can also ascend economically and reduce poverty incidences if they have better sanitation and water supply and improved water resource management.

Based on WHO data, 6 billion people – or 73 percent of the world’s population – utilized safely managed potable water services in 2022. The contaminant-free drinking water is based on a facility and available when the people need it. CEOWORLD magazine’s researchers view that this trend of more countries worldwide achieving better access to potable water must carry on in the coming years. This endeavor is possible with the partnership between all stakeholders: governments, non-governmental organizations, private companies, and citizens. Together they can eradicate the unequal access to affordable and safe drinking water.

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