Basic drinking water access in World

91.5% of people in the world 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
World is a group: All economies covered by the World Bank. The value is the aggregate published by World Bank, not an average calculated on this site.
World, 2024 91.5% % of population
Change from 2023 +0.2percentage points 2023: 91.2%
European Union, 2024 99.1% Official aggregate

Basic drinking water access in World over time

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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), 2005 to 2024
Period World
2024 91.5%
2023 91.2%
2022 90.9%
2021 90.4%
2020 90.0%
2019 89.6%
2018 89.3%
2017 88.9%
2016 88.5%
2015 88.1%
2014 87.7%
2013 87.3%
2012 86.9%
2011 86.5%
2010 86.1%
2009 85.7%
2008 85.2%
2007 84.8%
2006 84.3%
2005 83.9%

A dash means no value was published for that period.

In short

  • That is a change of +0.2 percentage points from 91.2% in 2023.
  • Since 2014, when it was 87.7%, the figure has changed by +3.7 percentage points.
  • The figure for the European Union in 2024 was 99.1%.

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 World
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