419 Million People Still Defecate Outdoors

3.5 billion people still live without access to safe toilets, including 419 million who practice open defecation. November 19 is the UN’s World Toilet Day and this year the theme is ‘Toilets: A Place for Peace’, highlighting how for billions of people, sanitation is under threat from conflict, climate change, disasters and neglect. According to UNICEF, children who live in extremely fragile contexts are three times more likely to practice open defecation, four times more likely to lack basic sanitation services and eight times more likely to lack basic drinking water services.

In 2022, 419 million people were still practicing open defecation, the most severe level of lack of sanitation service. Nineteen percent around the world did not have access to at least basic sanitation, defined as a private toilet connected to sewage piping, a septic or composting tank or a pit. Forty three percent of the global population did not live with safely-managed sanitation, meaning that their sewage was not treated properly, posing severe health risks to them as it enables pathogens to re-enter water supplies.

As recently as the year 2000, 1.3 billion people were still defecating outdoors, with grave health consequences. The UN has been working to eradicate the practice and has made some progress. In 2017, the number of those without access to any bathroom had sunk to 673 million and finally to 419 million in 2022.

Gains remain to be made in Sub-Saharan Africa, where steady population growth continues to put pressure on sanitation services. Cambodia, Ethiopia, Nepal and India saw the largest fall in outdoor defecation since the year 2000, reducing it from affecting around 70 to 85 percent of the population to seven to 20 percent.

The latter country has been particularly ambitious in installing proper toilets. Before Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, more than 60 percent of India's population didn't have access to a household toilet. Since then, billions of dollars have been invested under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan ("Clean India") campaign. According to UN numbers, open defecation was reduced to affecting 11 percent of the Indian population in 2022.