Countries by People using at least basic sanitation services (% of population)

Sixteen countries, including Australia, Singapore, and Kuwait, achieve 100% coverage of basic sanitation services, meaning every resident uses an improved, unshared sanitation facility. At the other end, Ethiopia ranks 214th with only 10.36% of its population covered. That 89.64 percentage-point gap between the top and bottom of the ranking reflects the scale of global disparity in access to a fundamental public health resource.

Population & Health category

Ranking 2024

Values shown in %.

Countries by People using at least basic sanitation services (% of population)
Rank	Country	%
1	Andorra	100.00
1	Australia	100.00
1	Bahrain	100.00
1	Brunei	100.00
1	Gibraltar	100.00
1	Isle of Man	100.00
1	Kuwait	100.00
1	Macao	100.00
1	Malta	100.00
1	Monaco	100.00
1	New Caledonia	100.00
1	New Zealand	100.00
1	Puerto Rico	100.00
1	San Marino	100.00
1	Singapore	100.00
1	Saint Martin (French part)	100.00
17	Chile	100.00
18	Austria	99.97
19	Liechtenstein	99.95
20	Japan	99.94
21	Bermuda	99.94
22	Qatar	99.94
23	Israel	99.92
24	Spain	99.92
25	Switzerland	99.90
26	Italy	99.88
27	Northern Mariana Islands	99.76
28	Belarus	99.75
29	Turkmenistan	99.74
30	South Korea	99.73
31	Maldives	99.70
32	Seychelles	99.70
33	Portugal	99.66
34	United States	99.62
35	Antigua and Barbuda	99.61
36	Denmark	99.60
37	Belgium	99.49
38	Cyprus	99.48
39	Finland	99.45
40	Palestine	99.40
41	Thailand	99.35
42	Oman	99.32
43	Albania	99.30
44	Türkiye	99.28
45	U.S. Virgin Islands	99.26
46	Germany	99.23
47	Lebanon	99.20
48	Curaçao	99.17
49	Uruguay	99.15
50	United Kingdom	99.10
51	United Arab Emirates	99.09
52	Czechia	99.07
53	Palau	99.02
54	Estonia	99.02
55	Greece	99.01
56	North Macedonia	99.00
57	Azerbaijan	98.98
58	Poland	98.96
59	Aruba	98.84
60	Costa Rica	98.79
61	Sint Maarten (Dutch part)	98.78
62	Iceland	98.78
63	Sweden	98.74
64	France	98.64
65	Canada	98.59
66	Kyrgyzstan	98.54
67	Tunisia	98.54
68	Iraq	98.50
69	Venezuela	98.40
70	Slovenia	98.31
71	Barbados	98.09
72	Norway	98.05
73	Hungary	97.97
74	Kazakhstan	97.94
75	Serbia	97.94
76	Montenegro	97.85
77	Ukraine	97.73
78	Netherlands	97.66
79	Saudi Arabia	97.61
80	Luxembourg	97.60
81	Slovakia	97.54
82	French Polynesia	97.51
83	Mauritius	97.37
84	China	97.27
85	Samoa	97.10
86	Egypt	97.09
87	British Virgin Islands	96.86
88	Colombia	96.58
89	Uzbekistan	96.55
90	Jordan	96.41
91	Lithuania	96.40
92	Malaysia	96.02
93	Tajikistan	95.99
94	Paraguay	95.93
95	Croatia	95.79
96	Syria	95.65
97	Vietnam	95.45
98	Bosnia and Herzegovina	95.39
99	Sri Lanka	95.35
100	Saint Kitts and Nevis	94.95
101	Hong Kong	94.83
102	Argentina	94.82
103	Cuba	94.77
104	Trinidad and Tobago	94.18
105	Tonga	93.93
106	Bahamas	93.71
107	Armenia	93.66
108	Turks and Caicos Islands	93.15
109	Mexico	92.99
110	Fiji	92.75
111	Grenada	92.62
112	Latvia	92.53
113	Brazil	92.40
114	Russia	92.22
115	Jamaica	91.63
116	Guyana	91.31
117	Ecuador	91.20
118	Faroe Islands	90.88
119	Georgia	90.68
120	Romania	90.54
121	Iran	90.46
122	Micronesia	90.45
123	Guam	90.38
124	Dominican Republic	90.12
125	Suriname	90.00
126	Ireland	89.73
127	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	89.70
128	Tuvalu	89.67
129	Panama	89.05
130	Laos	88.73
131	Libya	88.50
132	Indonesia	88.20
133	El Salvador	88.04
134	Morocco	87.78
135	Honduras	87.67
136	Philippines	87.15
137	Moldova	86.88
138	Bhutan	86.84
139	Bulgaria	86.08
140	Nepal	86.03
141	Algeria	85.91
142	North Korea	84.82
143	Belize	84.30
144	India	83.38
145	Saint Lucia	83.36
146	Cambodia	83.34
147	Cayman Islands	83.24
148	Cabo Verde	83.13
149	Rwanda	81.33
150	Dominica	80.37
151	Marshall Islands	78.96
152	Peru	78.77
153	South Africa	77.38
154	Mongolia	74.28
155	Myanmar	74.18
156	Timor-Leste	72.94
157	Botswana	72.12
158	Pakistan	71.88
159	Bolivia	71.58
160	Nauru	71.32
161	Guatemala	71.17
162	Bangladesh	67.62
163	Djibouti	67.02
164	Equatorial Guinea	66.31
165	Sudan	65.71
166	Eswatini	64.46
167	Yemen	63.08
168	Senegal	62.52
169	Greenland	62.50
170	American Samoa	62.12
171	Mauritania	58.68
172	Gabon	57.40
173	Comoros	57.22
174	Afghanistan	54.50
175	Angola	50.30
176	Malawi	49.23
177	Sao Tome and Principe	48.68
178	Gambia	48.17
179	Nigeria	47.90
180	Lesotho	47.89
181	Vanuatu	47.81
182	Mali	47.76
183	Cameroon	47.07
184	Kiribati	45.17
185	Burundi	44.63
186	Somalia	44.46
187	Kenya	40.88
188	Côte d'Ivoire	40.41
189	Namibia	38.72
190	Mozambique	38.59
191	Zambia	37.48
192	Tanzania	37.22
193	Solomon Islands	34.65
194	Zimbabwe	34.64
195	Guinea	32.65
196	Burkina Faso	31.80
197	Ghana	31.58
198	Haiti	29.11
199	Guinea-Bissau	28.94
200	Togo	25.17
201	Sierra Leone	24.91
202	Uganda	23.90
203	Papua New Guinea	23.57
204	Liberia	23.34
205	Benin	22.25
206	Republic of Congo	20.55
207	Niger	16.34
208	DR Congo	16.30
209	Madagascar	15.37
210	South Sudan	14.43
211	Central African Republic	14.04
212	Chad	13.14
213	Eritrea	11.94
214	Ethiopia	10.36

Analysis

This metric measures the percentage of people using at least basic sanitation services, defined as improved sanitation facilities that are not shared with other households. Per the source definition: 'The percentage of people using at least basic sanitation services, that is, improved sanitation facilities that are not shared with other households. This indicator encompasses both people using basic sanitation services as well as those using safely managed sanitation services. Improved sanitation facilities include flush/pour flush to piped sewer systems, septic tanks or pit latrines; ventila[ted improved pit latrines, composting toilets, etc.].' The unit is the percentage of a country's population. Data comes from the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code SH.STA.BASS.ZS, covering 214 countries. Of these, 203 out of 214 countries (94.9%) have data from within the last seven years, and 193 out of 214 (90.2%) have data specifically from 2024. All datapoints are classified as official-quality data (100%). No extreme outliers were detected using a 3-standard-deviation threshold, and the average year-over-year change is 1.0%, indicating stable trends across countries.

At the top of the ranking, 16 countries and territories score exactly 100%, including Andorra, Australia, Bahrain, Brunei Darussalam, Gibraltar, Isle of Man, Kuwait, Macao SAR, Malta, Monaco, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, San Marino, Singapore, and St. Martin (French part). Just below them, Chile ranks 17th at 99.9999%, followed by Austria at 99.97% (rank 18) and Japan at 99.94% (rank 20). High-income economies in Europe, the Gulf, and East Asia dominate the top 50. Notable inclusions in this tier are Israel at rank 23 (99.92%), South Korea at rank 30 (99.73%), and Qatar at rank 22 (99.94%). The pattern across the top of the ranking reflects broad access to improved sanitation infrastructure, though the data does not explain the mechanisms behind these outcomes.

The middle of the ranking shows considerable variation. Ireland, ranked 126th, scores 89.73%, placing it below countries such as Viet Nam (rank 97, 95.45%) and Kyrgyz Republic (rank 66, 98.54%). Russia ranks 114th at 92.22%, below Colombia (rank 88, 96.58%) and Malaysia (rank 92, 96.02%). In the lower half, countries in sub-Saharan Africa account for a large share of low-ranked entries. South Africa ranks 153rd at 77.38%, while Nigeria ranks 179th at 47.90%. The bottom ten includes Congo, Dem. Rep. at rank 208 (16.30%), Madagascar at rank 209 (15.37%), South Sudan at rank 210 (14.43%), Central African Republic at rank 211 (14.04%), Chad at rank 212 (13.14%), Eritrea at rank 213 (11.94%), and Ethiopia at rank 214 (10.36%). The range across all 214 countries spans from 10.36% to 100%, a spread of 89.64 percentage points.

This metric has several limitations specific to its design. It counts users of both basic and safely managed sanitation services together, meaning a country with mostly basic facilities and one with fully piped and treated sewage can receive similar scores. The metric does not differentiate between these two tiers within the combined figure. Shared facilities, even if improved, are excluded from the count, which can lower scores in densely populated urban areas where shared latrines are common. Reporting relies on surveys and estimates that may have varying sample coverage or methodological consistency across countries. Some countries in the ranking use data from years earlier than 2024, which may not reflect current conditions. For 11 of the 214 countries, data is older than seven years, introducing additional uncertainty for those specific entries.

Methodology

Data is drawn from the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code SH.STA.BASS.ZS, with a reference data year of 2024. The metric is defined in the source as: 'The percentage of people using at least basic sanitation services, that is, improved sanitation facilities that are not shared with other households. This indicator encompasses both people using basic sanitation services as well as those using safely managed sanitation services. Improved sanitation facilities include flush/pour flush to piped sewer systems, septic tanks or pit latrines; ventila[ted improved pit latrines, composting toilets, etc.].' The ranking covers 214 countries, exceeding the minimum coverage threshold of 80. Of these, 203 countries (94.9%) have data from within the last seven years, and 193 countries (90.2%) have data specifically from the 2024 reference year. All datapoints are classified as official-quality (100.0%), above the 70% quality threshold. No extreme outliers were detected at the 3-standard-deviation threshold. The average year-over-year change is 1.0%, well below the 50% volatility threshold, indicating stable data. Values range from 10.36% (Ethiopia, rank 214) to 100% (16 countries tied at rank 1), representing a spread of 89.64 percentage points across the full distribution.

Sources

World Bank