At least basic drinking water services
The percentage of people using at least basic water services. This indicator encompasses both people using basic water services as well as those using safely managed water services. Basic drinking water services is defined as drinking water from an improved source, provided collection time is not more than 30 minutes for a round trip. Improved water sources include piped water, boreholes or tubewells, protected dug wells, protected springs, and packaged or delivered water.
At least basic drinking water services
% of population · 2000–2026
Compare up to three countries. Remove one below to make room for another.
Showing selected countries and up to 12 suggestions. Search by name or code across 217 countries and economies.Selected window: 2000–2026. Solid: observed · Dashed: estimate/projection · Dotted: source status unclassified · Diamond: 2026.
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How to read this chart
Unclassified means the provider did not supply an explicit observation/estimate flag. It does not mean the value is unreliable. Source or methodology changes can affect trends across editions.
Countries publish data on different schedules. A shorter line or a gap means the source has no value for that country and year. Missing values are not zero. Only separately sourced official estimates or projections may fill gaps; we do not invent intermediate values. Use Table to inspect individual years.
The source-check date tells you when we retrieved the data, not the year it describes. Use the observation year when citing a value.
Compare the same definition and period. Differences are descriptive, not causal. National measurement methods may differ; crude rates are not age-standardised. Missing uncertainty intervals in this feed do not mean an estimate is exact.
At the same point in time
Latest comparable common year within this selection: 2024.
United States minus Portugal: 0.69 percentage points.
Japan minus Portugal: -0.1 percentage points.
Calculated by World in Stats from the named source values. Differences are not causal effects.Where did these numbers come from?
- Dataset
- World Development Indicators
- Original indicator
- SH.H2O.BASW.ZS · Original source
- Data providers
- WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene, World Health Organization (WHO), uri: washdata.org, publisher: WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (washdata.org), date accessed: 2025-09-30, date published: 2025-08-25; UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), uri: washdata.org, note: WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene
- Source dataset update
- 8 October 2026
- Retrieved
- 13 October 2026
- Publication date
- Not supplied separately by the API
- Definition
- The percentage of people using at least basic water services. This indicator encompasses both people using basic water services as well as those using safely managed water services. Basic drinking water services is defined as drinking water from an improved source, provided collection time is not more than 30 minutes for a round trip. Improved water sources include piped water, boreholes or tubewells, protected dug wells, protected springs, and packaged or delivered water.
- Unit
- % of population
- Transformations
- None. Display values may be rounded; CSV retains source precision.
- Licence & attribution
- WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene, World Health Organization (WHO), uri: washdata.org, publisher: WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (washdata.org), date accessed: 2025-09-30, date published: 2025-08-25; UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), uri: washdata.org, note: WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene. Source attribution and terms. No endorsement implied.
- Verification
- Exact API query · Indicator metadata
Interpreting this indicator
At least basic services are not the same as safely managed drinking water. This measure does not by itself establish water quality or continuous availability. Check the source’s service-level definition before comparing it with other water statistics.
Understand percentages, rates and uncertainty
Data availability varies by country and year. Compare the same definition and time period. Revisions may change historical observations; these values belong to the snapshot retrieved on 13 October 2026.
This feed does not supply uncertainty intervals for these observations. No ranking or causal explanation is inferred.