Estimates indicate that to achieve SDG 6, over US$1 trillion will be needed per year.

 

2.2 billion people (1 in 4) still live without safely managed drinking water, including 115 million people who drink surface water. • 3.5 billion people (4 in 10) still live without safely managed sanitation, including 419 million who practise open defecation. • 2 billion people still lack basic hygiene services, including 653 million with no facility at all. • Around 1,000 daily deaths of children under five are due to unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene. • Children under the age of 15 living in countries affected by protracted conflict are, on average, almost three times more likely to die from diarrhoeal diseases caused by a lack of safe water, sanitation and hygiene than by direct violence. • More than 2 billion people live in countries under water stress and 3.6 billion face inadequate access to water at least one month per year. • Water-related disasters account for 70% of all disaster related deaths. • Since 2000, flood-related disasters have increased by 134%. • In 2023, glaciers lost more than 600 gigatons of water, the largest mass loss registered in the last five decades. • Only 0.5% of water on Earth is useable and available freshwater. • To meet SDG 6, progress needs to increase, on average, by 6x for safely managed drinking water, 5x for safely managed sanitation and 3x for basic hygiene.• 72% of all freshwater withdrawals are used by agriculture, 16% by industries, and 12% by municipalities.• Global water demand is projected to increase by 20 to 30% by 2050.• To produce a person’s daily food, it takes 2,000-5,000 litres of water. A 50% increase in food demand is expected by 2050. • Water-use efficiency has increased by 19.3% globally from 2015 to 2021, but around 58% of countries still exhibit low water-use efficiency.• The world will not achieve sustainable water management until 2049.• Only 27% of industrial wastewater is safely treated.• 42% of household wastewater is not safely treated.• Only 56% of monitored water bodies in 120 reporting countries are in “good ambient water quality”. • Just 43 out of 153 countries sharing transboundary waters have operational arrangements covering 90% or more of their shared water bodies. • Every US$ 1 invested in water and sanitation yields a return of US$ 4.3.• Aid for water and sanitation decreased by 5% between 2015 and 2022.• Estimates indicate that to achieve SDG 6, over US$1 trillion will be needed per year.