World’s most water-stressed cities

Data linked to the world’s 100 largest cities by population
shows that 38 of them occupy regions of extremely
high water stress, according to new data from
Watershed Investigations

WATER STORAGE TRENDS
2002-2024

Strongly getting wetter
Moderately wetter
Slightly wetter
Relatively stable
Slightly getting drier
Moderately drier
Strongly drier

WATER STRESS
Areas shown
with cross-
hatching
pattern

Pacific
Ocean

Atlantic
Ocean

Indian
Ocean

Pacific
Ocean

1
2
3
4
5
7
8
9
6
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38

Water stress: Areas where water withdrawals for public
CITIES and industry use are close to exceeding available resources

UNDER
PRESSURE

12345678
Los Angeles
New York
Mexico City
Lima
Santiago
Cape Town
Johannesburg
Casablanca

U.S.
U.S.
Mexico
Peru
Chile
South Africa
S. Africa
Morocco

9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18

Madrid
Moscow
Istanbul
Alexandria
Cairo
Amman
Damascus
Baghdad
Riyadh
Dubai

Spain
Russia
Türkiye
Egypt
Egypt
Jordan
Syria
Iraq
Saudia Arabia
UAE

19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28

Tehran
Mashhad
Karachi
Faisalabad
Lahore
New Delhi
Ahmedabad
Hyderabad
Bengaluru
Chennai

Iran
Iran
Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan
India
India
India
India
India

29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38

Kanpur
Lucknow
Hajipur
Bangkok
Surabaya
Beijing
Tianjin
Xi’an
Zhengzhou
Hefei

India
India
India
Thailand
Indonesia
China
China
China
China
China

Sources: Watershed Investigations, United Nations
Note: Cities not listed in any particular order
© GRAPHIC NEWS