World Water Development Report 2023 Released

The UN publishes every year World Water Development Report (WWDR) covering water and sanitation. The main conclusions of WWDR 2023 (released on March 15, 2023) were:

The world’s water: demand, availability and quality

• Water use has been increasing globally by roughly 1% per year over the last 40 years and is expected to grow at a similar rate through to 2050, driven by a combination of population growth, socio-economic development and changing consumption patterns. The bulk of this increase is concentrated in middle- and lower-income countries, particularly in emerging economies.

• Water scarcity is becoming endemic as a result of the local impact of physical water stress, coupled with the acceleration and spreading of freshwater pollution. 

• As a result of climate change, seasonal water scarcity will increase in regions where it is currently abundant – such as Central Africa, East Asia and parts of South America – and worsen in regions where water is already in short supply – such as the Middle East and the Sahel in Africa. 

• On average, 10% of the global population lives in countries with high or critical water stress.

• Low-, middle- and high-income countries all show signs of risks related to water quality. Poor ambient water quality in low-income countries is often related to low levels of wastewater treatment, whereas in higher-income countries runoff from agriculture is a more serious problem.

Progress towards SDG 6 Targets

• Half-way through the 2030 Agenda timeline, progress towards SDG 6 targets is only significantly reported for drinking water and sanitation, with some preliminary and rough indications of progress for water stress, water use efficiency, transboundary cooperation and Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), leaving 5 of the 11 target indicators without quantified information on progress.

• At current rates, progress towards all the targets of SDG 6 is off-track and in some areas the rate of implementation needs to quadruple, or more.

• According to the latest figures from 2020, 26% of the world’s population (2 billion people) did not have access to safely managed drinking water services (Target 6.1), and an estimated 46% (3.6 billion) lacked access to safely managed sanitation (Target 6.2).

• Approximately 60% of the world’s reported water bodies were categorized as having ‘good’ ambient water quality (Target 6.3). However, the poorest 20 countries are grossly underrepresented in this global estimate.

• Globally, water use efficiency (Target 6.4) rose by 9% from 2015 to 2018 (from 17.3 to 18.9 US$/m³). Progress has been greatest in the industrial sector (15% increase), followed by the water supply and sanitation services and agricultural sectors (8% increase).

• While most countries have reported some progress, the global rate of progress on IWRM implementation (Target 6.5) needs to double to approach the target.

• The data required to track changes in the extent of water-related ecosystems over time (Target 6.6) are not yet refined enough to reveal discrete trends in recent years. However, available data show an 80% loss in the extent of natural wetland area since the pre-industrial era (1700).

• Official development assistance (ODA) committed and disbursed to ‘water’ in 2020 was estimated at US$8.7 billion globally, up from US$2.7 billion in 2002. However, international cooperation and capacity-building support to developing countries in water- and sanitation-related activities and programmes (Target 6.a) had not yet been specifically reported at the time of this report’s production.

• The number of countries with clearly defined procedures in law or policy for participation by users/communities (Target 6.b) has increased between 2014 and 2019, but still remains low overall. Levels for both laws/procedures and participation are very low for drinking water in both urban and rural settings compared to the other subsectors.