- On average across 28 African countries, a majority (57%) of citizens say they went without enough clean water at least once during the year preceding the survey. One in four households (25%) suffered shortages of safe water “many times” or “always” (Figure 1).
- Frequent water shortages affected about four in 10 households in Gabon (42%), Angola (40%), Cameroon (40%), Guinea (39%), and Benin (38%). In contrast, fewer than one in 20 Mauritians (1%) and Moroccans (3%) frequently went without enough water.
- Close to half (45%) of citizens live in areas without piped-water infrastructure (Figure 2).
- While piped-water systems are available in nearly all enumeration areas in Mauritius (99%) and Tunisia (93%), at least seven in 10 enumeration areas in Guinea (70%), Liberia (71%), Malawi (72%), and Zimbabwe (74%) do not have piped-water systems.
As the world converges at the United Nations’ first World Water Conference since 1977, a majority of Africans continue to go without enough clean water, the latest Afrobarometer surveys show.
On average across 28 African countries, 57% of citizens say they went without enough clean water for household use at least once during the previous year. One in four households suffered shortages of safe water “many times” or “always.”
Fewer than four in 10 Africans give their governments a passing grade on the provision of water and sanitation services.
As leaders and activists gather under the World Water Day theme of “Accelerate change,” these findings highlight the challenge confronting African governments, development partners, and other stakeholders if they don’t want to miss Sustainable Development Goal 6, “access to water and sanitation for all.”