Meeting the MDG Drinking Water & Sanitation Target: A Mid-Term Assessment of Progress

The combination of safe drinking water and hygienic sanitation facilities is a precondition for health and for success in the fight against poverty, hunger, child deaths and gender inequality. It is also central to the human rights and personal dignity of every woman, man and child on earth. Yet 2.6 billion people ? half the developing world ? lack even a simple ?improved? latrine. One person in six ? more than 1 billion of our fellow human beings ? has little choice but to use potentially harmful sources of water.

In adopting the Millennium Development Goals, the countries of the world pledged to reduce by half the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.

Programme on Water Supply and Sanitation (JMP), provides the latest estimates and trends on where we stand today.