World Water Day 2021

More than 2 billion people live in countries experiencing water stress while around 4 billion live in areas that suffer from severe water scarcity for at least one month per year, according to the UN


WATER STRESS*	Low	Extremely high

2 in 5 people worldwide – 3bn – have no hand-washing facility with water and soap at home

17 countries face extremely high risk of water stress

San Marino
Libya
Botswana
Eritrea
Turkmenistan 
Pakistan
India
Middle East
Bahrain, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE

GLOBAL WATER WITHDRAWALS† (km3/yr 1900–2010)

4,500 
3,500 
2,500
1,500
500
0
1900 10 30 50 70 90 2010

Global freshwater use has increased six-fold over past 100 years and continues
to grow at rate of around 1% per year since 1980s

Reservoirs†† 
Municipalities 
Industries 
Agriculture

Agriculture accounts for nearly 70% of global water withdrawals, mainly for irrigation but also for livestock and aquaculture


*Baseline water stress calculated using data on water withdrawal, available water and groundwater – World Resources Institute’s Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas, 2019

†AQUASTAT (2010) ††Evaporation from artifical lakes


Source: UN World Water Development Report 2021 
Picture: Getty Images 
© GRAPHIC NEWS