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

Brunei Darussalam leads all 180 ranked countries with a domestic freshwater withdrawal share of 164.67%, a figure that exceeds 100% due to extraction from nonrenewable aquifers or desalination. At the opposite end, Somalia records just 0.45%, reflecting an almost entirely agricultural and industrial allocation of water withdrawals. The 364-fold gap between first and last illustrates how sharply domestic water use priorities and supply structures differ across nations.

Environment category

Ranking 2022

Values shown in %.

Countries by Annual freshwater withdrawals, domestic (% of total freshwater withdrawal)
Rank	Country	%
1	Brunei	164.67
2	Monaco	100.00
3	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	99.98
4	Saint Kitts and Nevis	98.72
5	Dominica	95.00
6	Maldives	94.92
7	Luxembourg	91.18
8	Grenada	85.11
9	Djibouti	84.21
10	Central African Republic	82.90
11	Equatorial Guinea	79.80
12	United Kingdom	73.95
13	Jamaica	73.43
14	Republic of Congo	69.47
15	DR Congo	68.01
16	Ireland	66.10
17	Seychelles	65.69
18	Malta	63.85
19	Bahrain	63.44
20	Togo	63.09
21	Panama	62.66
22	Antigua and Barbuda	62.61
23	Qatar	62.39
24	Trinidad and Tobago	62.00
25	Benin	61.97
26	Gabon	60.89
27	Botswana	60.64
28	Cabo Verde	58.89
29	Papua New Guinea	57.00
30	Palestine	56.43
31	Liberia	54.97
32	Singapore	54.93
33	Slovakia	54.33
34	Switzerland	53.67
35	Latvia	53.35
36	Sierra Leone	52.31
37	Uganda	51.49
38	Mauritius	50.55
39	Comoros	48.00
40	United Arab Emirates	47.68
41	Burkina Faso	45.92
42	Croatia	45.77
43	Lesotho	45.66
44	Lithuania	45.54
45	Angola	45.27
46	Jordan	45.02
47	Czechia	43.29
48	Belarus	42.43
49	Germany	41.53
50	Denmark	40.97
51	Gambia	40.55
52	Nigeria	40.08
53	Georgia	39.04
54	Cyprus	38.75
55	Rwanda	38.27
56	Israel	38.17
57	Sao Tome and Principe	35.94
58	Kuwait	35.86
59	Ukraine	34.02
60	Sweden	33.80
61	Costa Rica	32.16
62	Algeria	30.92
63	Fiji	29.80
64	South Sudan	29.33
65	Saint Lucia	29.14
66	Norway	28.76
67	Iceland	28.75
68	Albania	27.73
69	Côte d'Ivoire	27.54
70	Italy	27.03
71	Netherlands	26.53
72	Russia	26.46
73	Guinea	25.84
74	Mozambique	25.25
75	Guatemala	25.12
76	Barbados	24.69
77	South Korea	24.64
78	Malaysia	24.45
79	Cuba	24.43
80	Puerto Rico	24.31
81	Brazil	24.13
82	Tunisia	22.73
83	Cameroon	22.68
84	Venezuela	22.64
85	El Salvador	22.35
86	Namibia	21.90
87	Slovenia	21.64
88	France	21.58
89	Poland	21.49
90	Ghana	20.46
91	China	20.13
92	Moldova	20.05
93	Honduras	19.60
94	Kazakhstan	19.40
95	Zambia	18.45
96	Guinea-Bissau	17.95
97	Finland	17.86
98	Armenia	17.64
99	South Africa	17.44
100	Japan	16.98
101	Greece	16.75
102	Iraq	15.88
103	Spain	15.71
104	Argentina	15.48
105	Romania	15.41
106	Bulgaria	15.39
107	Burundi	15.39
108	Belgium	15.04
109	Paraguay	15.00
110	Portugal	14.91
111	Nicaragua	14.91
112	Mexico	14.84
113	Australia	14.52
114	North Macedonia	14.06
115	Egypt	13.87
116	Serbia	13.79
117	Colombia	13.68
118	Canada	13.49
119	Hungary	13.29
120	United States	13.14
121	Haiti	13.10
122	Saudi Arabia	13.05
123	Lebanon	13.04
124	Ecuador	13.04
125	Kenya	12.28
126	Peru	12.12
127	Libya	12.01
128	Chad	11.79
129	Bolivia	11.47
130	Belize	11.29
131	Zimbabwe	11.14
132	New Zealand	11.08
133	Türkiye	11.06
134	Indonesia	10.69
135	Malawi	10.55
136	Philippines	10.43
137	North Korea	10.43
138	Morocco	10.19
139	Tanzania	10.17
140	Bangladesh	10.04
141	Myanmar	9.95
142	Mongolia	9.80
143	Dominican Republic	9.42
144	Uruguay	9.42
145	Tajikistan	9.21
146	Syria	8.80
147	Senegal	8.64
148	Timor-Leste	8.45
149	Suriname	8.00
150	Ethiopia	7.68
151	Niger	7.48
152	Yemen	7.43
153	India	7.36
154	Mauritania	7.07
155	Oman	6.79
156	Iran	6.65
157	Sri Lanka	6.22
158	Montenegro	5.50
159	Estonia	5.39
160	Eritrea	5.33
161	Pakistan	5.26
162	Uzbekistan	5.17
163	Bhutan	5.03
164	Thailand	4.78
165	Cambodia	4.49
166	Guyana	4.24
167	Chile	3.99
168	Eswatini	3.87
169	Sudan	3.53
170	Azerbaijan	3.15
171	Kyrgyzstan	2.92
172	Madagascar	2.91
173	Turkmenistan	2.61
174	Mali	2.06
175	Laos	1.77
176	Nepal	1.55
177	Vietnam	1.47
178	Austria	1.45
179	Afghanistan	1.00
180	Somalia	0.45

Analysis

This metric measures the share of total annual freshwater withdrawals attributed to domestic use, expressed as a percentage. According to the World Bank World Development Indicators (indicator ER.H2O.FWDM.ZS, data year 2022), 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, with 100% of data points rated official quality and 98.9% of entries drawn from the 2022 reference year. Ten extreme outliers were identified at the 3-standard-deviation threshold.

The top of the ranking is dominated by small island states, city-states, and a few resource-rich nations. Brunei Darussalam ranks first at 164.67%, the only country exceeding 100%, indicating substantial extraction beyond renewable freshwater resources. Monaco (rank 2, 100%), St. Vincent and the Grenadines (rank 3, 99.98%), and St. Kitts and Nevis (rank 4, 98.72%) follow closely, all allocating nearly all withdrawn freshwater to domestic purposes. Among larger or wealthier nations, Luxembourg ranks 7th at 91.18% and the United Kingdom ranks 12th at 73.95%. Gulf states also appear prominently: Bahrain ranks 19th at 63.44% and Qatar ranks 23rd at 62.39%, consistent with their reliance on desalination-sourced water for households.

In the middle of the ranking, countries show domestic shares roughly between 20% and 40%, reflecting more balanced distributions across domestic, agricultural, and industrial withdrawals. Germany sits at rank 49 with 41.53%, Sweden at rank 60 with 33.80%, and France at rank 88 with 21.58%. A counterintuitive placement is Austria, ranked 178th at just 1.45%, meaning nearly all Austrian freshwater withdrawal is directed to industrial or agricultural use rather than domestic supply. Similarly, Afghanistan (rank 179, 0.998%) and Somalia (rank 180, 0.45%) sit at the very bottom, indicating that domestic use constitutes a minimal share of total withdrawals in those countries relative to irrigation-heavy sectors.

Several limitations apply to this metric. The domestic share percentage does not indicate the absolute volume of water available or consumed per person; a country can rank highly simply because agricultural and industrial withdrawals are very low, not because domestic supply is generous. Values exceeding 100%, as seen with Brunei, arise from accounting for desalination or nonrenewable aquifer extraction, which can distort cross-country comparisons. Reporting periods and methodologies vary by country, and some figures may reflect modeled estimates rather than direct measurement. The metric also does not capture water quality, access equity, or seasonal variation in withdrawal patterns.

Methodology

Data are sourced from the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code ER.H2O.FWDM.ZS, with a reference year of 2022. The indicator measures domestic freshwater withdrawals as a percentage of total annual freshwater withdrawals. Per the source 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. The ranking covers 180 countries, all above the 80-country coverage threshold. 100% of data points carry official quality ratings, and 98.9% of entries are drawn from the 2022 reference year. Ten extreme outliers were flagged at the 3-standard-deviation threshold. The value range spans 0.45% to 164.67%, a spread of over 36,000%. Average year-over-year change across the dataset is 4.3%, well within the 50% volatility threshold.

Sources

World Bank