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Visualizing the Water Accessibility Divide in Sub-Saharan Africa

Visualizing the Water Accessibility Divide in Sub-Saharan Africa

According to the United Nations, having access to safe drinking water is a universal human right.

Yet, in Sub-Saharan Africa, only 39% of the population has water connected to their homes—and in the region’s rural areas, this figure drops to just 19%.

This graphic by Gilbert Fontana uses data from the United Nations to compare water accessibility in different countries across Sub-Saharan Africa. The data specifically looks at water on-premises, which is defined as water that’s connected to a person’s dwelling.

The Water Accessibility Gap

In Sub-Saharan Africa, water accessibility varies greatly both within and across countries.

For example, Ethiopia has one of the widest gaps within a single country—while 75% of its urban population has access to on-premises water, only 5% of its rural population has water piped to their homes.

While it is one of the most populated countries in Africa, with more than 115 million people as of 2020, Ethiopia is also one of the poorest. It has a national income per capita of only $890, and about 20% of Ethiopia’s population lives in rural areas of the country, leaving about 4.5 million people without access to on-premises water.

Here’s a breakdown of water access in other countries across Sub-Saharan Africa:

Country Population Type % of population with drinking water on premises (2020)
​ Mauritius Urban 99.9%
​ Mauritius Rural 99.8%
​ Angola Urban 54.7%
​ Angola Rural 7.5%
​​ Benin Urban 39.9%
​​ Benin Rural 10.4%
Botswana Urban 95.1%
Botswana Rural 50.2%
​​ Burkina Faso Urban 57.9%
​​ Burkina Faso Rural 3.1%
Burundi Urban 58.5%
Burundi Rural 3.0%
Cameroon Urban 54.7%
Cameroon Rural 7.5%
​ Cape Verde Urban 92.2%
​ Cape Verde Rural 80.1%
​​ Central African Republic Urban 11.5%
​​ Central African Republic Rural 2.3%
​ Chad Urban 30.5%
​ Chad Rural 2.0%
Côte d'Ivoire Urban 73.0%
Côte d'Ivoire Rural 14.6%
Democratic Republic of the Congo Urban 40.4%
Democratic Republic of the Congo Rural 1.0%
Djibouti Urban 58.2%
Djibouti Rural 4.5%
Eswatini Urban 93.1%
Eswatini Rural 37.3%
Ethiopia Urban 75.1%
Ethiopia Rural 5.2%
Gabon Urban 76.3%
Gabon Rural 18.9%
Ghana Urban 60.3%
Ghana Rural 16.1%
Guinea Urban 77.5%
Guinea Rural 21.5%
Guinea-Bissau Urban 40.9%
Guinea-Bissau Rural 4.7%
Kenya Urban 57.7%
Kenya Rural 23.4%
Lesotho Urban 78.1%
Lesotho Rural 8.9%
Liberia Urban 23.5%
Liberia Rural 4.8%
Madagascar Urban 38.2%
Madagascar Rural 13.7%
Malawi Urban 54.4%
Malawi Rural 10.2%
Mali Urban 61.5%
Mali Rural 16.5%
Mauritania Urban 54.4%
Mauritania Rural 28.7%
Mozambique Urban 65.2%
Mozambique Rural 13.7%
Namibia Urban 74.9%
Namibia Rural 48.2%
Niger Urban 65.8%
Niger Rural 7.7%
Nigeria Urban 39.9%
Nigeria Rural 17.7%
Republic of the Congo Urban 69.2%
Republic of the Congo Rural 19.1%
Rwanda Urban 45.5%
Rwanda Rural 5.0%
São Tomé and Príncipe Urban 40.1%
São Tomé and Príncipe Rural 24.7%
Senegal Urban 87.5%
Senegal Rural 59.0%
Sierra Leone Urban 24.6%
Sierra Leone Rural 9.2%
Somalia Urban 68.1%
Somalia Rural 9.1%
South Africa Urban 91.2%
South Africa Rural 51.3%
South Sudan Urban 3.7%
South Sudan Rural 2.6%
Tanzania Urban 65.9%
Tanzania Rural 19.9%
The Gambia Urban 67.6%
The Gambia Rural 7.6%
Togo Urban 36.8%
Togo Rural 6.7%
Uganda Urban 42.8%
Uganda Rural 8.0%
Zambia Urban 56.9%
Zambia Rural 8.6%
Zimbabwe Urban 67.9%
Zimbabwe Rural 12.9%

As the table above shows, the rural population in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is facing some of the worst water scarcity issues across the region, with less than 1% of its rural population having access to on-premises water.

This is particularly worrisome because the DRC has the most fresh-water resources of any country in Africa.

Yet, due to poor infrastructure and conflict-related damage to facilities, hundreds of thousands of people in the DRC do not have safe running water in their homes.

What’s the Impact on the Population?

Without water connected to their homes, people have no choice but to walk to the nearest water source, to collect and carry it back to their homes.

Often, the burden of collecting water falls onto women and children, which can impact their access to education and opportunities to study.

In Chad, where 2% of the rural population has running water in their homes, female literacy rates sit at 14%. According to data from UNESCO, more than 700,000 children weren’t in school in 2019, and of those children, almost 500,000 were female.

The post Visualizing the Water Accessibility Divide in Sub-Saharan Africa appeared first on Visual Capitalist.