Progress on Sanitation Drinking-Water: 2010 Update

This report describes the status and trends with respect to the use of safe drinking-water and basic sanitation, and progress made towards the MDG drinking-water and sanitation target.

As the world approaches 2015, it becomes increasingly important to identify who are being left behind and to focus on the challenges of addressing their needs. This report presents some striking disparities: the gap between progress in providing access to drinking-water versus sanitation; the divide between urban and rural populations in terms of the services provided; differences in the way different regions are performing, bearing in mind that they started from different baselines; and disparities between different socioeconomic strata in society.

Each JMP report assesses the situation and trends anew and so this JMP report supersedes previous reports. The information presented in this report includes data from household surveys and censuses completed during the period 2007-2008. It also incorporates datasets from earlier surveys and censuses that have become available to JMP since the publication of the previous JMP report in 2008. In total, data from around 300 surveys and censuses covering the period 1985 - 2008, has been added to the JMP database.

The updated estimates for 2008, 2000 and 1990 are given in the statistical table starting on page 38. This table for the first time shows the number of people who gained access to improved sanitation and drinking-water sources in the period 1990-2008.

It is important to note that the data in this report do not yet reflect the efforts of the International Year of Sanitation 2008, which mobilized renewed support around the world to stop the practice of open defecation and to promote the use of latrines and toilets.

Contents:

INTRODUCTION

STATUS AND PROGRESS TOWARDS THE MDG TARGET
Billions without improved sanitation
Millions without improved sources of drinking-water
Sanitation: world off track for MDG target
Drinking-water: world on track for MDG target
Sanitation ladder: global and regional trends
Drinking-water ladder: global and regional trends

URBAN-RURAL DISPARITIES
Sanitation: urban-rural disparities
Drinking-water: urban-rural disparities

A CLOSER LOOK AT THE LADDERS
Open defecation
Shared and unimproved sanitation facilities
Piped water on premises and other improved sources of drinking-water

ADDITIONAL PERSPECTIVES
Time to collect drinking-water
Collection of drinking-water: gender disparities
Socioeconomic disparities: Sub-Saharan Africa
JMP METHOD
JMP method explained

STATISTICAL TABLE
Progress on sanitation and drinking-water: country, regional and
global estimates for 1990, 2000 and 2008

ANNEXES
Annex A Millennium Development Goals: regional groupings
Annex B Global and regional sanitation ladders: urban and rural
Annex C Global and regional drinking-water ladders: urban and rural