Municipal water withdrawal by country

Total water withdrawal for municipal (domestic) purposes, measured in cubic metres (m³) per year. Municipal water is the annual quantity of water withdrawn primarily for the direct use by the population.

Countries reporting
32
Highest
79.40 billion billion m³ per year
China
Lowest
5.00 million billion m³ per year
Monaco
Median
779.00 million billion m³ per year
Years covered
46
1970–2015
Data points
222

What the numbers show

Municipal water withdrawal is currently reported for 32 countries. The highest value is 79.40 billion billion m³ per year in China; the lowest is 5.00 million billion m³ per year in Monaco.

The median across all reporting countries is 779.00 million billion m³ per year, and the mean is 6.57 billion billion m³ per year.

The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 15,880.

Over the past decade 15 countries rose and 17 fell. The largest increase was in Burkina Faso (up 324.4%), and the largest decrease in Armenia (down 76.5%).

Municipal water withdrawal: full country ranking

#Country LatestYear 10-year changeTrend
1 China 79.40 billion billion m³ per year 2015 up 11.8% volatile
2 India 56.00 billion billion m³ per year 2010 up 33.3% volatile
3 Japan 15.41 billion billion m³ per year 2010 down 5.3% rising
4 Pakistan 9.65 billion billion m³ per year 2010 up 51.0% volatile
5 Italy 9.45 billion billion m³ per year 2010 up 3.7% rising
6 South Korea 6.92 billion billion m³ per year 2005 up 0.8% rising
7 United Kingdom 5.87 billion billion m³ per year 2010 down 19.8% falling
8 France 5.48 billion billion m³ per year 2010 down 8.1% falling
9 Spain 5.31 billion billion m³ per year 2010 down 2.6% falling
10 Iraq 4.30 billion billion m³ per year 2000 up 235.9% volatile
11 Greece 1.29 billion billion m³ per year 2010 up 50.1% rising
12 Netherlands 1.22 billion billion m³ per year 2010 down 6.6% flat
13 Sweden 1.02 billion billion m³ per year 2010 down 1.8% flat
14 Romania 980.00 million billion m³ per year 2015 down 47.3% falling
15 Switzerland 917.00 million billion m³ per year 2015 down 6.5% falling
16 Norway 838.00 million billion m³ per year 2015 down 11.6% rising
17 Austria 720.00 million billion m³ per year 2010 up 7.7% rising
18 Israel 712.00 million billion m³ per year 2005 up 47.7% rising
19 Belgium 709.30 million billion m³ per year 2010 down 3.6% falling
20 Libya 700.00 million billion m³ per year 2010 up 14.8% rising
22 Hungary 594.50 million billion m³ per year 2015 down 25.0% flat
23 Belarus 547.00 million billion m³ per year 2015 down 31.9% falling
24 Jordan 491.00 million billion m³ per year 2015 up 67.0% rising
25 Finland 415.00 million billion m³ per year 2015 up 1.4% flat
26 Burkina Faso 375.60 million billion m³ per year 2005 up 324.4% volatile
27 Denmark 360.00 million billion m³ per year 2010 down 18.3% falling
28 Armenia 198.00 million billion m³ per year 2015 down 76.5% volatile
29 Slovenia 164.00 million billion m³ per year 2015 down 2.0% falling
30 Malawi 143.10 million billion m³ per year 2005 up 50.6% rising
31 Cyprus 84.10 million billion m³ per year 2015 up 28.2% rising
32 Iceland 80.00 million billion m³ per year 2015 down 1.2% falling
35 Monaco 5.00 million billion m³ per year 2010 down 13.8% falling

About this data

Indicator
Municipal water withdrawal
Unit
billion m³ per year
Source
FAO (2017) – processed by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
35 places, 222 data points, 1970–2015
Last refreshed

Total water withdrawal for municipal (domestic) purposes, measured in cubic metres (m³) per year. Municipal water is the annual quantity of water withdrawn primarily for the direct use by the population.