🚰 Major increase in access to clean water and sanitation in China

• Access to safe water in China has increased from 45.7 percent to 91.3 percent between 2000 and 2020.
• In urban areas, over 95 percent of households now have access to clean water, while rural areas reach 82.4 percent.
• The use of modern toilets has increased from 18.7 percent to 78.5 percent during the same period.

Significant progress across the country

Over the past 20 years, China has made great strides in improving access to clean water, toilets, and hygiene facilities. Data from three national surveys shows that development has been particularly strong in rural areas.

While cities already had good access to clean water in 2000, rural areas have caught up. The increase there has been 58.2 percent compared to 15.4 percent in cities between 2000 and 2020.

Large regional differences

Despite the success, there are still significant differences between different parts of the country. The eastern provinces generally have better access to water and sanitation than the central and western regions.

Shanghai and Zhejiang lead the development with the highest coverage of safe water and modern toilets. Provinces like Xinjiang have meanwhile made great progress and climbed from ninth to fourth place between 2000 and 2020.

Future challenges

The western regions still have the lowest coverage of water and sanitation services. This is due to factors including sparse population, difficult natural conditions, and high costs of infrastructure development.

In rural areas, 56.7 percent of households have access to modern toilets, compared to over 90 percent in cities. However, the fastest improvement has occurred in rural areas, where access has increased by 53.2 percent since 2000.

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