Basic drinking water access in South Asia

95.9% of people in South Asia used at least basic drinking water services in 2024. The value for 2024 is the highest in the series, which starts in 2000.

Measure: People using at least basic drinking water services Unit: % of population Data: 2000 to 2024 Source: World Bank
South Asia is a group: World Bank region. The value is the aggregate published by World Bank, not an average calculated on this site.
South Asia, 2024 95.9% % of population
Change from 2023 +0.6percentage points 2023: 95.4%
World, 2024 91.5% Official aggregate

Basic drinking water access in South Asia over time

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South Asia World ×

% of population. Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators. Gaps mean no published value; points are not joined across missing years.

People using at least basic drinking water services (% of population), 2000 to 2024
Period South AsiaWorld
2024 95.9% 91.5%
2023 95.4% 91.2%
2022 94.8% 90.9%
2021 94.2% 90.4%
2020 93.6% 90.0%
2019 92.9% 89.6%
2018 92.3% 89.3%
2017 91.7% 88.9%
2016 91.1% 88.5%
2015 90.5% 88.1%
2014 89.9% 87.7%
2013 89.3% 87.3%
2012 88.6% 86.9%
2011 88.0% 86.5%
2010 87.4% 86.1%
2009 86.8% 85.7%
2008 86.1% 85.2%
2007 85.5% 84.8%
2006 84.9% 84.3%
2005 84.3% 83.9%
2004 83.6% 82.6%
2003 83.0% 82.1%
2002 82.4% 81.6%
2001 81.7% 80.9%
2000 81.2% 80.6%

A dash means no value was published for that period.

In short

  • That is a change of +0.6 percentage points from 95.4% in 2023.
  • Since 2014, when it was 89.9%, the figure has changed by +6.1 percentage points.
  • The figure for the world in 2024 was 91.5%.

Source and dates

Original producer
WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene
Distributed by
World Bank, World Development Indicators
Dataset or series code
SH.H2O.BASW.ZS · dataset details · view at source
Observation period
2000 to 2024 for South Asia
Provider update
8 October 2026
Retrieved
9 November 2026
Published here
9 November 2026
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (per series metadata)
Attribution
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators, original data: WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene