Drinking water services in rural areas in Kenya

Kenya: Drinking water services in rural areas was 9.82 million people in 2024. ▲ Rising

Latest (2024)
9.82 million people
Change on year
down 0.8%
World rank
1st
of 178 countries
All-time high
10.35 million people
in 2014
All-time low
9.15 million people
in 2000
Years of data
25
2000–2024

Drinking water services in rural areas in Kenya, 2000–2024

02.5M5.0M7.5M10.0M2000201220242000: 9.2M people2001: 9.3M people2002: 9.4M people2003: 9.5M people2004: 9.6M people2005: 9.7M people2006: 9.8M people2007: 9.9M people2008: 10.0M people2009: 10.1M people2010: 10.2M people2011: 10.3M people2012: 10.3M people2013: 10.3M people2014: 10.3M people2015: 10.3M people2016: 10.3M people2017: 10.3M people2018: 10.3M people2019: 10.2M people2020: 10.1M people2021: 10.1M people2022: 10.0M people2023: 9.9M people2024: 9.8M people

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

Analysis

The most recent figure for drinking water services in rural areas in Kenya is 9.82 million people, measured in 2024.

Compared with earlier readings it is down 0.8% on the previous year and down 5.1% over ten years.

Over the whole period, drinking water services in rural areas in Kenya peaked at 10.35 million people in 2014 and was at its lowest, 9.15 million people, in 2000.

That places Kenya 1st out of 178 countries with data for 2024, putting it in the top 10%.

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

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
2000s 9.66 million people 9.15 million people 10.13 million people 10
2010s 10.29 million people 10.19 million people 10.35 million people 10
2020s 9.98 million people 9.82 million people 10.13 million people 5

Countries ranked near Kenya

  1. 2 Nigeria 8.21 million people compare
  2. 3 Democratic Republic of Congo 8.01 million people compare
  3. 4 Tanzania 6.99 million people compare

See the full ranking of 178 places →

More environment data for Kenya

All data for Kenya →

Frequently asked questions

What is drinking water services in rural areas in Kenya?
Drinking water services in rural areas in Kenya was 9.82 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 Kenya?
The highest recorded value was 10.35 million people in 2014.
What is the lowest drinking water services in rural areas recorded in Kenya?
The lowest recorded value was 9.15 million people in 2000.
How does Kenya rank for drinking water services in rural areas?
Kenya ranks 1st out of 178 countries with data for 2024.
Is drinking water services in rural areas rising or falling in Kenya?
Over the last ten years it is down 5.1%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this Kenya 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.