Countries with the Lowest Safe Drinking Water Access 2024

About This Dataset

Countries with the Lowest Safe Drinking Water Access 2024
Countries ranked by the percentage of their population with access to safely managed drinking water services in 2024, showing those with the least access according to WHO and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme data. Papua New Guinea has the lowest drinking water access among countries tracked, with only 37% of the population able to reliably access safely managed water — a crisis rooted in mountainous terrain, limited government infrastructure investment, and the extreme geographic dispersal of rural communities.
Analysis

The stark disparity in access to safe drinking water is evident, with Papua New Guinea at a mere 37%, significantly lagging behind Ethiopia (42%) and Niger (49%). This gap reflects not only geographic challenges but also systemic issues such as inadequate infrastructure and investment. Countries like Chad and Mozambique, with 52% and 53% respectively, indicate that while some progress is being made, the overall situation remains dire. The trend suggests that without substantial investment in water infrastructure and services, these nations will continue to struggle with health crises related to waterborne diseases, impacting their development and quality of life.

Source:  WHO and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme

Key Findings

🏆
Papua New Guinea records the lowest in Population with Safe Drinking Water (%) at 37 in 2024.
📊
Average Population with Safe Drinking Water (%) in 2024: 51  ·  median: 53.

Countries with the Lowest Safe Drinking Water Access 2024

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Data Insights

Numbers, trends & sources behind this chart

Admin
⬡
Data Points
8
8 categories  ·  1 year
↑
Top Value
37
Papua New Guinea
Population with Safe Drinking Water (%) · 2024
◈
Metrics
1
Population with Safe Drinking Water (%)
◷
Period
2024
Single year snapshot

Methodology & source

Data source
WHO and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme
Coverage
8 entities · 2024 · 8 observations
Measure
Population with Safe Drinking Water (%)
Last updated
6 September 2026
Compiled by
The ANYSTAT team, from the source above
How the figures are calculated
  • Values are shown as reported by the source. Nothing is rescaled, rebased or converted — the only changes are thousand separators and decimals shown to two places.
  • Entities are ranked lowest-first, because on this measure a lower number is the better result.

Rankings & Full Data

8 records · Population with Safe Drinking Water (%) · ranked by 2024

✓ 8 sourced
# Category 2024 Source
🥇 Papua New Guinea 37
🥈 Ethiopia 42
🥉 Niger 49
4 Chad 52
5 Mozambique 53
6 Madagascar 55
7 Angola 57
8 South Sudan 59

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