The world has made remarkable progress in expanding access to drinking water over the past 20 years. Yet 2.1 billion people, roughly one quarter of the world’s population, still lack safely managed drinking water. Access to a water source does not necessarily mean that the water people drink is safe.
Water can become contaminated during the process of collection, storage, or use. As a result, even water that is safe at the source may not be safe by the time it reaches the glass.
The Atlas of Global Development 2026 explores this challenge and highlights how water quality remains one of the most difficult barriers to achieving universal access to safely managed drinking water.
The chart above illustrates a shift in global drinking water access since 2000. The proportion of people with access to safely managed drinking water has steadily increased around the world since 2000, while untreated surface water now makes up only a small share of the total (1.3%). Most of the remaining 2.1 billion people have only “basic” water service, meaning they can reach an improved source within a 30-minute round trip, but the water is not necessarily on premises, consistently available, or free from contamination. Addressing this issue is as much about proximity and reliability as it is about verified safety.
READ MORE:https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/opendata/water-quality–safe-at-the-source-isn-t-safe-at-the-glass
