Countries by Renewable internal freshwater resources per capita (cubic meters)

Ranking 2022

Values shown in per capita.

Analysis

This metric measures renewable internal freshwater resources per capita in cubic meters. The World Bank defines the underlying indicator as follows: renewable internal freshwater resources flows refer to internal renewable resources (internal river flows and groundwater from rainfall) in the country, with per capita values calculated using the World Bank's population estimates. The unit is cubic meters per person per year. The metric counts only internally generated freshwater flows and does not account for water flowing in from neighboring countries, water storage infrastructure, or actual water access or quality. Data cover 183 countries, all with values from the last seven years, with 100% classified as official data. The data year is 2022. The viability checks identified 30 extreme outliers at the 3-sigma threshold, reflecting the high variance in this dataset: values range from 0.00 to 445,022.68, a spread the checks flag at 999%.

The top of the ranking is dominated by countries with small populations relative to large river systems or high precipitation. Iceland (rank 1) reaches 445,022.68 cubic meters per capita, nearly 1.5 times the value of rank 2, Guyana, at 293,316.88. Suriname (rank 3) follows at 158,866.69, and Bhutan (rank 4) at 99,882.96. Papua New Guinea (rank 5) records 78,505.02, Canada (rank 6) 73,197.17, and Norway (rank 7) 70,000.20. These high values reflect a combination of substantial freshwater flows and relatively low or dispersed populations rather than any single geographic feature identifiable from the data alone.

The middle of the ranking shows considerable compression. The United States sits at rank 54 with 8,436.69 cubic meters per capita, while China reaches rank 106 at 1,991.89 and India rank 127 at 1,014.44. Several large economies place lower than might be expected given their geographic size: Germany ranks 117 at 1,286.40 and France ranks 86 at 2,933.22. At the lower end, Pakistan ranks 165 at 225.69, Saudi Arabia ranks 175 at 74.59, and Jordan ranks 176 at 60.59. Egypt ranks 181 at 8.88 cubic meters per capita. Bahrain (rank 182) records 2.62, and Kuwait (rank 183) records zero, indicating no quantified internal renewable freshwater resources in the dataset.

This metric has several notable limitations. It captures only internally generated freshwater flows and excludes transboundary inflows, which are significant for countries that depend heavily on rivers originating abroad. It does not reflect actual water availability to populations, water quality, infrastructure for storage or distribution, or seasonal variability. Countries with very large river systems but also large populations may rank lower than their absolute water volumes suggest. The 30 extreme outliers identified in the viability checks indicate that a small number of countries with very high per capita values can distort comparative analysis. Rankings are also sensitive to population estimates, as the per capita calculation uses World Bank population figures, meaning population changes affect values even when physical water resources remain constant.

Methodology

The metric is drawn from the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code ER.H2O.INTR.PC, with a data year of 2022. The source defines the indicator as follows: renewable internal freshwater resources flows refer to internal renewable resources (internal river flows and groundwater from rainfall) in the country; renewable internal freshwater resources per capita are calculated using the World Bank's population estimates. The unit is cubic meters per capita. The dataset covers 183 countries, all meeting the recency threshold with data from the last seven years, and 100% of datapoints are classified as official quality. Viability checks found 30 extreme outliers at the 3-sigma threshold. The value range runs from 0.00 to 445,022.68 cubic meters per capita, flagged as a 999% spread. Year-over-year volatility averages 1.5%, well within the 50% threshold. Data for 181 of 183 countries are from the latest year (2022), giving 98.9% consistency. The metric excludes transboundary inflows, water infrastructure, water quality, and actual access to water resources.

Sources

• World Bank