Drinking water services in rural areas in Democratic Republic of Congo

Democratic Republic of Congo: Drinking water services in rural areas was 8.01 million people in 2024. ▼ Falling

Latest (2024)
8.01 million people
Change on year
up 2.1%
World rank
3rd
of 178 countries
All-time high
8.23 million people
in 2002
All-time low
7.37 million people
in 2020
Years of data
25
2000–2024

Drinking water services in rural areas in Democratic Republic of Congo, 2000–2024

02.0M4.0M6.0M8.0M2000201220242000: 8.2M people2001: 8.2M people2002: 8.2M people2003: 8.2M people2004: 8.2M people2005: 8.2M people2006: 8.2M people2007: 8.2M people2008: 8.1M people2009: 8.1M people2010: 8.1M people2011: 8.0M people2012: 8.0M people2013: 7.9M people2014: 7.9M people2015: 7.8M people2016: 7.8M people2017: 7.7M people2018: 7.6M people2019: 7.5M people2020: 7.4M people2021: 7.5M people2022: 7.7M people2023: 7.8M people2024: 8.0M people

Source: WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (2025) – processed by Our World in Data. Measured in people.

Analysis

In 2024, drinking water services in rural areas in Democratic Republic of Congo stood at 8.01 million people.

The figure is up 2.1% on the previous year and up 1.6% over ten years.

Over the whole period, drinking water services in rural areas in Democratic Republic of Congo peaked at 8.23 million people in 2002 and was at its lowest, 7.37 million people, in 2020.

Democratic Republic of Congo ranks 3rd of 178 countries on this measure, in the top 10%.

The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 25 years of available data.

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
2000s 8.19 million people 8.09 million people 8.23 million people 10
2010s 7.83 million people 7.49 million people 8.05 million people 10
2020s 7.69 million people 7.37 million people 8.01 million people 5

Countries ranked near Democratic Republic of Congo

  1. 1 Kenya 9.82 million people compare
  2. 2 Nigeria 8.21 million people compare
  3. 4 Tanzania 6.99 million people compare
  4. 5 India 4.82 million people compare
  5. 6 Ethiopia 4.69 million people compare

See the full ranking of 178 places →

More environment data for Democratic Republic of Congo

All data for Democratic Republic of Congo →

Frequently asked questions

What is drinking water services in rural areas in Democratic Republic of Congo?
Drinking water services in rural areas in Democratic Republic of Congo was 8.01 million people in 2024, according to WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (2025) – processed by Our World in Data.
What is the highest drinking water services in rural areas recorded in Democratic Republic of Congo?
The highest recorded value was 8.23 million people in 2002.
What is the lowest drinking water services in rural areas recorded in Democratic Republic of Congo?
The lowest recorded value was 7.37 million people in 2020.
How does Democratic Republic of Congo rank for drinking water services in rural areas?
Democratic Republic of Congo ranks 3rd out of 178 countries with data for 2024.
Is drinking water services in rural areas rising or falling in Democratic Republic of Congo?
Over the last ten years it is up 1.6%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
Where does this Democratic Republic of Congo data come from?
The figures come from WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (2025) – processed by Our World in Data, published as part of Drinking water services in rural areas. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 25 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).

About this data

Indicator
Drinking water services in rural areas
Unit
people
Source
WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (2025) – processed by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
178 places, 4,232 data points, 2000–2024
Last refreshed

Number of people using drinking water directly collected from surface waters.