Countries by Annual freshwater withdrawals, agriculture (% of total freshwater withdrawal)

Somalia leads all 180 countries ranked, with 99.48% of its total freshwater withdrawals going to agriculture. At the opposite end, Monaco, Singapore, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines each record 0%, reflecting entirely different water-use structures. The nearly 100-percentage-point gap between the top and bottom illustrates how sharply agricultural dependence on freshwater varies across economies.

Environment category

Ranking 2022

Values shown in %.

Countries by Annual freshwater withdrawals, agriculture (% of total freshwater withdrawal)
Rank	Country	%
1	Somalia	99.48
2	Afghanistan	98.17
3	Nepal	98.14
4	Mali	97.86
5	Sudan	96.19
6	Laos	95.92
7	Madagascar	95.89
8	Vietnam	94.78
9	Eritrea	94.50
10	Guyana	94.34
11	Eswatini	94.19
12	Bhutan	94.08
13	Cambodia	94.00
14	Pakistan	93.98
15	Turkmenistan	92.75
16	Kyrgyzstan	92.69
17	Azerbaijan	92.24
18	Iran	92.18
19	Uzbekistan	92.13
20	Ethiopia	91.84
21	Timor-Leste	91.38
22	Senegal	91.31
23	Niger	91.02
24	Chile	90.89
25	Yemen	90.74
26	Mauritania	90.58
27	India	90.41
28	Thailand	90.37
29	Tanzania	89.35
30	Myanmar	88.56
31	Bangladesh	87.82
32	Morocco	87.78
33	Syria	87.53
34	Sri Lanka	87.36
35	Zimbabwe	87.20
36	Bolivia	87.08
37	Türkiye	86.93
38	Malawi	85.94
39	Indonesia	85.21
40	Nicaragua	85.04
41	Haiti	83.38
42	Dominican Republic	83.31
43	Libya	83.19
44	Colombia	82.17
45	Saudi Arabia	81.56
46	Peru	81.45
47	Ecuador	81.43
48	Oman	80.78
49	Greece	80.47
50	Kenya	80.21
51	Burundi	79.26
52	Egypt	79.16
53	Paraguay	78.62
54	Armenia	77.47
55	Uruguay	77.19
56	Chad	76.42
57	North Korea	76.35
58	Mexico	76.30
59	Guinea-Bissau	75.79
60	Tunisia	75.54
61	Philippines	74.63
62	Tajikistan	74.53
63	Argentina	73.93
64	Venezuela	73.85
65	Iraq	73.47
66	Honduras	73.30
67	Zambia	73.28
68	Ghana	73.06
69	Mozambique	73.05
70	El Salvador	72.79
71	Namibia	71.48
72	Albania	70.89
73	Saint Lucia	70.86
74	Suriname	70.00
75	Belize	67.72
76	Cameroon	67.71
77	Barbados	67.65
78	Algeria	67.43
79	Guinea	67.42
80	Australia	66.89
81	Japan	66.67
82	Spain	65.33
83	New Zealand	64.95
84	Cuba	64.94
85	Sao Tome and Principe	62.59
86	Kuwait	62.27
87	China	62.14
88	Cyprus	61.25
89	Brazil	60.84
90	Costa Rica	60.72
91	Rwanda	60.07
92	South Africa	59.40
93	South Korea	58.93
94	Fiji	58.89
95	Kazakhstan	56.75
96	Guatemala	56.74
97	Portugal	55.43
98	Mongolia	54.26
99	Denmark	54.21
100	Jordan	51.65
101	Côte d'Ivoire	51.64
102	Burkina Faso	51.43
103	United Arab Emirates	51.18
104	Italy	50.22
105	Palestine	49.22
106	Israel	48.40
107	Mauritius	47.87
108	Comoros	47.00
109	Malaysia	45.65
110	Nigeria	44.17
111	Uganda	40.66
112	United States	39.66
113	Cabo Verde	38.99
114	Gambia	38.58
115	Lebanon	38.04
116	Panama	36.83
117	South Sudan	36.47
118	Romania	36.25
119	Finland	35.73
120	Malta	34.53
121	Togo	34.08
122	Georgia	33.55
123	Bahrain	33.31
124	Qatar	33.31
125	Norway	31.42
126	Latvia	29.07
127	Gabon	28.97
128	Russia	28.76
129	Botswana	27.97
130	Belarus	27.23
131	Benin	25.21
132	Sierra Leone	21.54
133	Ukraine	21.13
134	Angola	20.78
135	Lithuania	19.56
136	Jamaica	17.06
137	Djibouti	15.79
138	Antigua and Barbuda	15.65
139	Grenada	14.89
140	United Kingdom	14.05
141	Bulgaria	13.35
142	Poland	13.02
143	Hungary	11.05
144	Canada	10.69
145	DR Congo	10.52
146	France	10.30
147	Switzerland	9.24
148	Lesotho	8.68
149	Liberia	8.43
150	Serbia	8.29
151	Croatia	7.48
152	Moldova	6.89
153	Seychelles	6.57
154	North Macedonia	6.40
155	Slovakia	5.83
156	Brunei	5.76
157	Austria	5.24
158	Equatorial Guinea	5.05
159	Dominica	5.00
160	Sweden	4.93
161	Maldives	4.55
162	Republic of Congo	4.36
163	Trinidad and Tobago	4.36
164	Germany	4.17
165	Puerto Rico	3.47
166	Netherlands	3.22
167	Czechia	3.04
168	Ireland	2.37
169	Saint Kitts and Nevis	1.28
170	Luxembourg	1.03
171	Belgium	0.85
172	Central African Republic	0.55
173	Estonia	0.41
174	Slovenia	0.41
175	Montenegro	0.31
176	Papua New Guinea	0.26
177	Iceland	0.11
178	Monaco	0.00
178	Singapore	0.00
178	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	0.00

Analysis

This metric measures the share of total annual freshwater withdrawals used for agriculture, expressed as a percentage. The World Bank World Development Indicators (indicator code ER.H2O.FWAG.ZS) define the underlying data as follows: annual freshwater withdrawals refer to total water withdrawals, not counting evaporation losses from storage basins; withdrawals also include water from desalination plants in countries where they are a significant source; withdrawals can exceed 100 percent of total renewable resources where extraction from nonrenewable aquifers or desalination plants is considerable or where there is significant reuse. The dataset covers 180 countries, all with data from within the last seven years, and 100% of datapoints are classified as official-quality. The data year is 2022. Two extreme outliers were identified using a 3-standard-deviation threshold.

The top of the ranking is dominated by countries in South Asia, the Sahel, and Central Asia. Somalia ranks first at 99.48%, followed by Afghanistan at 98.17% (rank 2), Nepal at 98.14% (rank 3), and Mali at 97.86% (rank 4). Sudan (rank 5, 96.19%), Lao PDR (rank 6, 95.92%), and Vietnam (rank 8, 94.78%) also exceed 94%. Pakistan ranks 14th at 93.98%, and India ranks 27th at 90.41%. These countries share characteristics visible in the data: agriculture accounts for the overwhelming majority of their measured freshwater use, leaving industry and municipal use with small residual shares.

The middle of the ranking shows a wide spread. Japan sits at rank 81 with exactly 66.67%, while China ranks 87th at 62.14% and the United States ranks 112th at 39.66%. Several placements are notable. Kuwait (rank 86) records 62.27%, a high figure for a country with very limited renewable water resources that relies substantially on desalination. Denmark ranks 99th at 54.21%, notably higher than neighboring Netherlands (rank 166, 3.22%) and Germany (rank 164, 4.17%), pointing to structural differences in irrigation-dependent agriculture within Europe. Jordan, often associated with water scarcity, ranks 100th at 51.65%, placing it in the middle rather than at the top of the distribution.

Several limitations apply to this metric. The agricultural share figure depends entirely on how total withdrawals are measured and reported, and reporting methodologies differ across countries. Because the metric is a ratio, a country with very low total withdrawals can show a high agricultural share even if its absolute agricultural water use is small. The source note explicitly states that withdrawals can exceed 100% of total renewable resources where nonrenewable aquifer extraction or desalination is significant, meaning the denominator is not strictly renewable freshwater. Data for some countries may reflect estimates or modeled figures rather than direct measurement. The three-way tie at rank 178 with 0% for Monaco, Singapore, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines likely reflects reporting conventions or the absence of measurable agricultural withdrawal rather than verified zero use.

Methodology

Data source: World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code ER.H2O.FWAG.ZS, data year 2022. The metric measures agriculture's share of total annual freshwater withdrawals, expressed as a percentage. Per the source note definition: annual freshwater withdrawals refer to total water withdrawals, not counting evaporation losses from storage basins; withdrawals also include water from desalination plants in countries where they are a significant source; withdrawals can exceed 100 percent of total renewable resources where extraction from nonrenewable aquifers or desalination plants is considerable or where there is significant reuse. Coverage: 180 countries with data, exceeding the 80-country threshold. Recency: 100% of countries have data from within the last seven years. Data quality: 100% of datapoints are official. The ranking ranges from 0.00% to 99.48%, a spread of 999%. Two extreme outliers were identified at the 3-standard-deviation threshold. Average year-over-year change across the dataset is 4.4%, well within the 50% volatility threshold. Latest-year consistency: 178 of 180 countries (98.9%) report 2022 data.

Sources

World Bank