World Water Day

Globally, Water Use efficiency (WUE) rose from 17.47 USD/m3 in 2015 to 21.50 USD/m3 in 2022, marking a 23 percent efficiency increase (Figure 15). Oceania and Europe and Northern America remained the most water efficient regions, with WUE levels of 71.71 USD/m3 and 54.64 USD/ m3 , respectively (Figure 16). However, Eastern, Central and Southern Asia recorded the highest growth in WUE between 2015 and 2022, with increases of 51.32 percent, 46.25 percent and 34.13 percent respectively. In contrast, Latin America and the Caribbean experienced a slight decline in WUE, decreasing by 0.47 percent over the same period. At the sectoral level, agriculture exhibited the lowest  Water Use Efficiency (WUE)  among economic sectors. In 2022, the global average WUE for agriculture was 0.69 USD/m3 , significantly lower than that of the industrial sector (38.43 USD/m3 ) and the service sector (114.45 USD/m3 ). However, agriculture recorded the largest improvement in Water Use Efficiency ove...

 In 2022, global water stress levels reached 18 percent. However, there were many regional variations. Northern Africa and Southern Asia displayed critical levels of water stress at 121 percent and 76.7 percent respectively, and high levels of water stress were observed in Central Asia (70.2 percent) and Western Asia (65.1 percent) placing enormous pressure on people, economies and ecosystems. Conversely, Europe and North America (12.3 percent), Latin America and the Caribbean (5.7 percent), Oceania (3.2 percent), South-eastern Asia (20.6 percent) and sub-Saharan Africa (6.3 percent) presented low levels of water stress. An upward trend in water stress levels was observed since 2015 in some regions, with Northern Africa, Western Asia and Oceania experiencing the most significant increases, rising by 15.6 percent, 12.9 percent and 12.3 percent, respectively, between 2015 and 2022. In contrast, Central Asia recorded a notable decrease, with water stress falling from 76.8 percent in...