The Ugly Truth

Population without Safe Water

- 1.1 billion people in the world do not have access to safe drinking water, roughly one-sixth of the world's population.

- 50 percent of people on earth lack adequate sanitation. Another way to look at it: Nearly half of the world's population fails to receive the level of water services available 2,000 years ago to the citizens of ancient Rome.

- It is estimated that 5.3 billion people, two-thirds of the world’s population, will suffer from water shortages by 2025.

Africa

- The average distance that women in Africa and Asia walk to collect water is six kilometers.

- More than 40 million hours are wasted each year in Africa alone from women and children gathering water.

- The average American uses 100 to 175 gallons of water per day. The average African family uses 5 gallons per day.

- The average person in the developing world uses 2.64 gallons of water a day. The average person in the United Kingdom uses 35.66 gallons of water per day. The average person in the United States uses between 100 and 175 gallons every day at home.

Death Rates
- 2.2 million people in developing countries, most of them children, die every year from diseases associated with lack of access to safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene.

- 6,000 children die every day from disease associated with lack of access to safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene - equivalent to 20 jumbo jets crashing every day.

- The World Health Organization estimates that a combination of unsafe water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene now kills 200 people an hour.