1.1 billion
The estimated number of people worldwide who lack access to clean drinking water.

2.4 billion
The estimated number of people worldwide who lack access to sanitation. Most are in Africa and Asia.

2 billion
The estimated number of people who depend on groundwater worldwide (about one-third of the world's population). Countries around the worldface rapidly depleting groundwater resources, including parts of India, China, West Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, the former Soviet Union and the western United States.

About 80
The number of countries that had experienced serious water shortages by the mid 1990s. This makes up about 40 per cent of the world's population.


One-third
The proportion of the global population who live in countries with moderate-to-high water stress. Water stress occurs when water consumption exceeds 10% of renewable freshwater resources. West Asia faces the severest threat. More than 90% of the population in the region lives under severe water stress.

Two-thirds
The proportion of the global population that is expected to be living in water stressed conditions in less than 25 years.

40%
The increase in global water use expected by 2020.

$30 billion
The projected cost per year of bringing poor people universal access to water by 2015.

Source: United Nations Environment Programme, GEO-Global Environment Outlook 3, Past, Present and Future Perspective

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Water makes up 70% of our muscles, 90% of our lungs, and 85% of our brain.