Two-thirds of world's population will live water-insecure beyond 2030, UN says

A resident collects water from a well in a residential area on the occasion of World Water Day in Quezon City, Philippines, March 22, 2023. UN water experts warned that two-thirds of the world's population will live in water insecurity well beyond 2030 if radical measures are not taken.

Unless radical action is taken, two-thirds of the world's population will live water-insecure well beyond 2030, according to the UN Think Tank on WaterUN Think Tank on Water, the UNU-INWEH, which was founded in 1996 and is known as the UNU-INWEH, a member of the UNU family of organizations.

The report, released on the second day of the UN 2023 Water Conference, provides a multidimensional comparison of the state of water security affecting 7.8 billion people across 186 countries as part of the Water Action Decade 2018 -- 2028 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a press release said that the world is far from reaching Sustainable Development Goal 6 that aims to ensure all people have access to clean water and sanitation.

Without water security, countries are simply not able to support freshwater ecosystems, livelihoods and human well-being, said Charlotte MacAlister, senior water security researcher at UNU-INWEH.

This global assessment highlights the major development challenges that policy discussions should focus on in the seven years left to fulfill SDG 6. According to the UNU-INWEH, policymakers are focused on water scarcity mitigation around the world. The authors argue that this reductionist interpretation of water security has put the world off-track to meeting SDG 6 by 2030. This UN report evaluated water security on 10 components or dimensions, including drinking water, sanitation, good health and water quality, in order to provide a more realistic understanding of water security status around the world.

78 percent of the world's population, or about 6.1 billion people, currently live in water-insecure countries, according to the results.

A girl washess her face with water from a stone waterpout in Lalitpur, Nepal, March 22, 2023, World Water Day. PHOTO XINHUA The global assessment shows that 23 countries 16 Least Developed Countries LDCs and seven Small Island Developing States SIDS are critically water-insecure and more than 70 percent don't have safe water access, with Africa having the lowest levels of access, at only 15 percent of the region's population.

On November 9, a woman fills up water containers at a camp for internally displaced people in Baidoa, Somalia. GUY PETERSON AFP Only 33 countries from three geographic regions are water secure, according to the report.

In 54 African countries, almost 31 percent of the population, including 33 LDCs and six SIDS, do not have access to a basic drinking water service. Only 201 million people, or 15 percent, have access to safe drinking water, according to the findings.

The report said that countries at risk of flooding and droughts have compounded challenges that threaten their economic safety, while also experiencing accelerated population growth, urbanization and industrialization by region, as well as by region, Africa has the highest number of countries at high risk of flooding and droughts.