Drinking water services in rural areas in Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea: Drinking water services in rural areas was 887,444 people in 2024. ▼ Falling
Drinking water services in rural areas in Papua New Guinea, 2000–2024
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 Papua New Guinea stood at 887,444 people. That is the lowest value across all 25 years on record.
The figure is down 19.7% on the previous year and down 66.3% over ten years.
Over the whole period, drinking water services in rural areas in Papua New Guinea peaked at 3.37 million people in 2004 and was at its lowest, 887,444 people, in 2024.
Papua New Guinea ranks 27th of 178 countries on this measure, in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 25 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 3.20 million people | 2.95 million people | 3.37 million people | 10 |
| 2010s | 2.53 million people | 1.89 million people | 3.04 million people | 10 |
| 2020s | 1.31 million people | 887,444 people | 1.71 million people | 5 |
Countries ranked near Papua New Guinea
More environment data for Papua New Guinea
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF 10.76 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF per capita 1.02 t CO2e/capita (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Agriculture 0.4503 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Building (Energy) 0.4689 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Fugitive Emissions (Energy) 1.92 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Industrial Combustion (Energy) 0.003 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions (total) excluding LULUCF 3.71 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Power Industry (Energy) 0.0024 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Transport (Energy) 0.0104 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Waste 0.8618 Mt CO2e (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is drinking water services in rural areas in Papua New Guinea?
- Drinking water services in rural areas in Papua New Guinea was 887,444 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 Papua New Guinea?
- The highest recorded value was 3.37 million people in 2004.
- What is the lowest drinking water services in rural areas recorded in Papua New Guinea?
- The lowest recorded value was 887,444 people in 2024.
- How does Papua New Guinea rank for drinking water services in rural areas?
- Papua New Guinea ranks 27th out of 178 countries with data for 2024.
- Is drinking water services in rural areas rising or falling in Papua New Guinea?
- Over the last ten years it is down 66.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Papua New Guinea 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
Number of people using drinking water directly collected from surface waters.