Drinking water services in rural areas in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe: Drinking water services in rural areas was 1.20 million people in 2024. ▲ Rising

Latest (2024)
1.20 million people
Change on year
up 2.4%
World rank
21st
of 178 countries
All-time high
1.20 million people
in 2024
All-time low
692,624 people
in 2000
Years of data
25
2000–2024

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

0250.0k500.0k750.0k1.0M1.2M2000201220242000: 692.6k people2001: 692.9k people2002: 701.8k people2003: 718.0k people2004: 734.6k people2005: 750.4k people2006: 768.7k people2007: 788.1k people2008: 806.9k people2009: 827.9k people2010: 851.0k people2011: 876.1k people2012: 900.5k people2013: 923.6k people2014: 946.3k people2015: 968.9k people2016: 991.9k people2017: 1.0M people2018: 1.0M people2019: 1.1M people2020: 1.1M people2021: 1.1M people2022: 1.1M people2023: 1.2M people2024: 1.2M people

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

Analysis

Zimbabwe recorded 1.20 million people for drinking water services in rural areas in 2024. That is the highest value across all 25 years on record.

The figure is up 2.4% on the previous year and up 26.6% over ten years.

Over the whole period, drinking water services in rural areas in Zimbabwe peaked at 1.20 million people in 2024 and was at its lowest, 692,624 people, in 2000.

Zimbabwe ranks 21st of 178 countries on this measure, in the top quarter.

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

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
2000s 748,182 people 692,624 people 827,855 people 10
2010s 957,789 people 851,005 people 1.06 million people 10
2020s 1.14 million people 1.09 million people 1.20 million people 5

Countries ranked near Zimbabwe

  1. 18 Ghana 1.45 million people compare
  2. 19 Chad 1.41 million people compare
  3. 20 South Sudan 1.33 million people compare
  4. 22 Zambia 1.14 million people compare
  5. 23 Cameroon 1.03 million people compare
  6. 24 Cambodia 994,424 people compare

See the full ranking of 178 places →

More environment data for Zimbabwe

All data for Zimbabwe →

Frequently asked questions

What is drinking water services in rural areas in Zimbabwe?
Drinking water services in rural areas in Zimbabwe was 1.20 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 Zimbabwe?
The highest recorded value was 1.20 million people in 2024.
What is the lowest drinking water services in rural areas recorded in Zimbabwe?
The lowest recorded value was 692,624 people in 2000.
How does Zimbabwe rank for drinking water services in rural areas?
Zimbabwe ranks 21st out of 178 countries with data for 2024.
Is drinking water services in rural areas rising or falling in Zimbabwe?
Over the last ten years it is up 26.6%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this Zimbabwe 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.