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

Eight countries — including Austria, Chile, New Zealand, and Spain — achieve 100% coverage of people using at least basic sanitation services in rural areas, while Chad sits at the bottom with just 4.5%. The gap between first and last place spans more than 95 percentage points. This range reflects the breadth of variation in rural sanitation infrastructure across 171 countries.

Population & Health category

Ranking 2024

Values shown in %.

Countries by People using at least basic sanitation services, rural (% of rural population)
Rank	Country	%
1	Andorra	100.00
1	Antigua and Barbuda	100.00
1	Austria	100.00
1	Chile	100.00
1	Iceland	100.00
1	Malta	100.00
1	New Zealand	100.00
1	Spain	100.00
9	Turkmenistan	99.93
10	United Arab Emirates	99.92
11	Switzerland	99.90
12	Italy	99.90
13	Netherlands	99.89
14	Portugal	99.80
15	Kyrgyzstan	99.71
16	Maldives	99.66
17	Uruguay	99.61
18	Denmark	99.60
19	Belgium	99.49
20	United Kingdom	99.47
21	Finland	99.45
22	Tunisia	99.39
23	Czechia	99.37
24	Oman	99.30
25	Albania	99.28
26	Poland	99.24
27	Estonia	99.20
28	Kazakhstan	99.11
29	Germany	98.99
30	Sweden	98.93
31	Cyprus	98.92
32	Thailand	98.91
33	Belarus	98.91
34	France	98.89
35	Israel	98.87
36	Luxembourg	98.87
37	Canada	98.76
38	Palestine	98.74
39	Hungary	98.57
40	Palau	98.43
41	United States	98.40
42	Norway	98.30
43	Greece	98.14
44	Costa Rica	98.13
45	Azerbaijan	98.04
46	Uzbekistan	97.83
47	North Macedonia	97.74
48	Iraq	97.65
49	Türkiye	97.23
50	Ukraine	97.09
51	Samoa	97.01
52	Tajikistan	96.99
53	Mauritius	96.83
54	Paraguay	96.26
55	Slovakia	96.18
56	Malaysia	95.88
57	Saudi Arabia	95.65
58	Serbia	95.51
59	China	95.21
60	Sri Lanka	94.99
61	Egypt	94.91
62	Jordan	94.67
63	Syria	94.53
64	Cuba	93.92
65	Montenegro	93.91
66	Jamaica	93.87
67	Vietnam	93.46
68	Croatia	93.36
69	Ireland	93.24
70	Tonga	93.17
71	Trinidad and Tobago	93.09
72	Lithuania	93.06
73	Fiji	92.74
74	Bosnia and Herzegovina	92.14
75	Turks and Caicos Islands	91.59
76	Tuvalu	91.20
77	Guyana	90.59
78	Bhutan	89.25
79	Mexico	89.24
80	Philippines	87.47
81	Colombia	87.11
82	Nepal	86.97
83	Rwanda	86.83
84	Ecuador	86.06
85	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	86.06
86	Indonesia	85.48
87	Latvia	84.92
88	Saint Lucia	84.28
89	Moldova	83.75
90	Bulgaria	83.72
91	Honduras	82.64
92	Laos	82.47
93	Armenia	82.44
94	Suriname	82.36
95	Iran	82.30
96	Dominican Republic	81.10
97	Romania	81.09
98	India	81.05
99	Cambodia	79.89
100	Algeria	79.68
101	Georgia	79.66
102	South Africa	79.25
103	El Salvador	77.12
104	Argentina	76.77
105	Cabo Verde	76.61
106	Belize	76.35
107	North Korea	73.06
108	Myanmar	71.70
109	Morocco	71.37
110	Panama	70.77
111	Russia	70.44
112	Eswatini	70.10
113	Timor-Leste	69.42
114	Bangladesh	67.62
115	Marshall Islands	67.51
116	Brazil	66.97
117	Pakistan	64.97
118	Peru	61.02
119	Guatemala	59.90
120	Botswana	57.80
121	Equatorial Guinea	57.25
122	Comoros	57.10
123	Sudan	56.75
124	Senegal	54.02
125	Bolivia	53.27
126	Mongolia	52.91
127	Malawi	49.51
128	Lesotho	49.17
129	Afghanistan	47.58
130	Yemen	47.36
131	Vanuatu	46.77
132	Burundi	45.10
133	Kenya	41.39
134	Sao Tome and Principe	39.90
135	Kiribati	39.36
136	Mali	38.73
137	Somalia	35.44
138	Nigeria	34.17
139	Zambia	32.33
140	Zimbabwe	31.83
141	Mauritania	26.63
142	Tanzania	25.77
143	Cameroon	24.89
144	Gabon	24.60
145	Côte d'Ivoire	24.31
146	Namibia	24.25
147	Haiti	24.06
148	Gambia	24.05
149	Angola	23.55
150	Burkina Faso	23.53
151	Ghana	23.43
152	Guinea	22.77
153	Mozambique	22.51
154	Djibouti	21.92
155	Uganda	20.63
156	Solomon Islands	20.17
157	Papua New Guinea	19.55
158	Guinea-Bissau	17.16
159	Sierra Leone	15.33
160	Togo	14.31
161	Benin	11.83
162	DR Congo	11.22
163	Madagascar	10.56
164	Liberia	10.06
165	Niger	8.69
166	South Sudan	8.04
167	Republic of Congo	6.26
168	Ethiopia	6.11
169	Central African Republic	5.74
170	Eritrea	5.56
171	Chad	4.51

Analysis

This metric measures the percentage of rural residents using at least basic sanitation services. According to the source definition, this covers 'improved sanitation facilities that are not shared with other households' and 'encompasses both people using basic sanitation services as well as those using safely managed sanitation services.' Improved facilities include 'flush/pour flush to piped sewer systems, septic tanks or pit latrines; ventilated improved pit latrines, composting toilets, and pit latrines with slabs.' The data is expressed as a percentage of the rural population. This ranking covers 171 countries using World Bank World Development Indicators (indicator code SH.STA.BASS.RU.ZS), with data anchored to 2024. Of the 171 countries, 166 (97.1%) have data from the last seven years, 159 (93.0%) have data from the latest reference year, and 100% of data points are classified as official. No extreme outliers were detected using a 3-standard-deviation threshold, and average year-over-year change is 1.6%, indicating stable trends across the dataset.

At rank 1, eight countries share a perfect score of 100%: Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Austria, Chile, Iceland, Malta, New Zealand, and Spain. Turkmenistan follows at rank 9 with 99.9%, and the United Arab Emirates at rank 10 with 99.9%. European countries dominate the top of the ranking, with Switzerland (rank 11, 99.9%), Italy (rank 12, 99.9%), the Netherlands (rank 13, 99.9%), and Portugal (rank 14, 99.8%) all scoring above 99.7%. Notable non-European entries in the top 20 include Kyrgyz Republic (rank 15, 99.7%), Maldives (rank 16, 99.7%), and Uruguay (rank 17, 99.6%), reflecting high rural sanitation access across varied geographic and income contexts.

The middle of the ranking shows significant clustering in the 80-95% range. India ranks 98th at 81.0%, while Cambodia (rank 99, 79.9%) and Algeria (rank 100, 79.7%) sit just below the 80% threshold. At the lower end, Nigeria ranks 138th at 34.2%, Zambia 139th at 32.3%, and Zimbabwe 140th at 31.8%. The bottom ten countries all fall below 10%, with Chad last at 4.5%, Eritrea 170th at 5.6%, Central African Republic 169th at 5.7%, Ethiopia 168th at 6.1%, and Congo, Rep. 167th at 6.3%. A counterintuitive placement is Russia (rank 111, 70.4%), which ranks lower than countries such as Iraq (rank 48, 97.6%) and Uzbekistan (rank 46, 97.8%) on this rural-specific metric.

A key limitation of this metric is that it captures access to basic or improved facilities but does not distinguish between basic and safely managed sanitation within its scope, meaning a country with widespread but unmanaged pit latrines could score similarly to one with full sewerage infrastructure. The metric measures rural population coverage only, so national-level sanitation figures will differ. Shared facilities — regardless of quality — are excluded from the count by definition, which may undercount effective access in some high-density rural settings. Data for some countries may rely on surveys or modeled estimates rather than direct census counts, and the 93.0% consistency rate for the latest reference year means a small number of country values are interpolated or carried forward from prior years.

Methodology

Data is drawn from the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code SH.STA.BASS.RU.ZS, with a reference year of 2024. The metric measures '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; ventilated improved pit latrines, composting toilets, and pit latrines with slabs.' The ranking covers 171 countries, exceeding the minimum coverage threshold of 80. Of these, 166 (97.1%) have data from the last seven years, and 159 of 171 (93.0%) have data from the latest reference year. All 171 data points (100%) are classified as official quality. No extreme outliers were identified at the 3-standard-deviation threshold. The average year-over-year change is 1.6%, indicating low volatility. Values range from 4.5% (Chad) to 100% (eight countries), a spread of 2,115.8%. Higher values indicate greater rural sanitation coverage.

Sources

World Bank