How WASH Access in India Has Improved

In 2022, 92 percent of rural and 96 percent of urban households in India had to undertake a round trip of less than 30 minutes to access an improved source of drinking water according to data by the Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene by the WHO and Unicef. The situation has especially improved for Indians not living in major cities, rising by 15 percentage points compared to 20 years prior. As our chart shows, there's still room for improvement, especially in rural areas.

Even though basic sanitation access, which translates to improved sanitary facilities not shared with other households, has increased by 63 (rural) and 38 (urban) percentage points since 2002, it still means that overall, around 300 million people in India don't possess this basic luxury, while around 330 million don't have a handwashing facility with soap and water in their homes. To combat this problem, the government has launched various initiatives like Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, which has installed upwards of 100 million toilets in the country and has been running since 2014.

Next to basic WASH (water supply, sanitation and hygiene) access, India is also still struggling with the treatment of its wastewater, leaving around 45 billion liters per day untreated as of 2020. According to a Euronews report from last year, open sewage systems in cities like Delhi have already become breeding grounds for insects and diseases in parts of the city.