Drinking water services in rural areas in Rwanda

Rwanda: Drinking water services in rural areas was 951,705 people in 2024. ▼ Falling

Latest (2024)
951,705 people
Change on year
down 2.2%
World rank
25th
of 178 countries
All-time high
1.15 million people
in 2000
All-time low
951,705 people
in 2024
Years of data
25
2000–2024

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

0250.0k500.0k750.0k1.0M1.2M2000201220242000: 1.1M people2001: 1.1M people2002: 1.1M people2003: 1.1M people2004: 1.1M people2005: 1.1M people2006: 1.1M people2007: 1.1M people2008: 1.1M people2009: 1.1M people2010: 1.1M people2011: 1.1M people2012: 1.1M people2013: 1.1M people2014: 1.1M people2015: 1.1M people2016: 1.1M people2017: 1.1M people2018: 1.1M people2019: 1.0M people2020: 1.0M people2021: 1.0M people2022: 992.6k people2023: 973.1k people2024: 951.7k 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 Rwanda is 951,705 people, measured in 2024. That is the lowest value across all 25 years on record.

That represents a change of down 2.2% on the previous year and down 13.0% over ten years.

Over the whole period, drinking water services in rural areas in Rwanda peaked at 1.15 million people in 2000 and was at its lowest, 951,705 people, in 2024.

That places Rwanda 25th out of 178 countries with data for 2024, putting it in the top quarter.

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

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
2000s 1.11 million people 1.10 million people 1.15 million people 10
2010s 1.08 million people 1.04 million people 1.11 million people 10
2020s 991,153 people 951,705 people 1.03 million people 5

Countries ranked near Rwanda

  1. 22 Zambia 1.14 million people compare
  2. 23 Cameroon 1.03 million people compare
  3. 24 Cambodia 994,424 people compare
  4. 26 Russia 913,118 people compare
  5. 27 Papua New Guinea 887,444 people compare
  6. 28 Guinea 878,871 people compare

See the full ranking of 178 places →

More environment data for Rwanda

All data for Rwanda →

Frequently asked questions

What is drinking water services in rural areas in Rwanda?
Drinking water services in rural areas in Rwanda was 951,705 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 Rwanda?
The highest recorded value was 1.15 million people in 2000.
What is the lowest drinking water services in rural areas recorded in Rwanda?
The lowest recorded value was 951,705 people in 2024.
How does Rwanda rank for drinking water services in rural areas?
Rwanda ranks 25th out of 178 countries with data for 2024.
Is drinking water services in rural areas rising or falling in Rwanda?
Over the last ten years it is down 13.0%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
Where does this Rwanda 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.