People not using safely managed drinking water sources in Afghanistan

Afghanistan: People not using safely managed drinking water sources was 29.62 million people in 2024. ▲ Rising

Latest (2024)
29.62 million people
Change on year
up 1.9%
World rank
14th
of 163 countries
All-time high
29.62 million people
in 2024
All-time low
17.82 million people
in 2000
Years of data
25
2000–2024

People not using safely managed drinking water sources in Afghanistan, 2000–2024

010.0M20.0M30.0M2000201220242000: 17.8M people2001: 18.0M people2002: 18.7M people2003: 19.8M people2004: 20.3M people2005: 20.8M people2006: 21.5M people2007: 21.6M people2008: 21.8M people2009: 22.4M people2010: 22.8M people2011: 23.5M people2012: 24.2M people2013: 24.8M people2014: 25.4M people2015: 25.9M people2016: 26.3M people2017: 26.7M people2018: 27.2M people2019: 27.7M people2020: 28.3M people2021: 28.6M people2022: 28.7M people2023: 29.1M people2024: 29.6M people

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, people not using safely managed drinking water sources in Afghanistan stood at 29.62 million people. That is the highest value across all 25 years on record.

That represents a change of up 1.9% on the previous year and up 16.6% over ten years.

Over the whole period, people not using safely managed drinking water sources in Afghanistan peaked at 29.62 million people in 2024 and was at its lowest, 17.82 million people, in 2000.

That places Afghanistan 14th out of 163 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 20.27 million people 17.82 million people 22.42 million people 10
2010s 25.46 million people 22.85 million people 27.74 million people 10
2020s 28.87 million people 28.30 million people 29.62 million people 5

Countries ranked near Afghanistan

  1. 11 Vietnam 41.83 million people compare
  2. 12 Uganda 40.96 million people compare
  3. 13 Russia 34.38 million people compare
  4. 15 Mozambique 25.09 million people compare
  5. 16 Madagascar 24.91 million people compare
  6. 17 Nepal 24.76 million people compare

See the full ranking of 163 places →

More environment data for Afghanistan

All data for Afghanistan →

Frequently asked questions

What is people not using safely managed drinking water sources in Afghanistan?
People not using safely managed drinking water sources in Afghanistan was 29.62 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 people not using safely managed drinking water sources recorded in Afghanistan?
The highest recorded value was 29.62 million people in 2024.
What is the lowest people not using safely managed drinking water sources recorded in Afghanistan?
The lowest recorded value was 17.82 million people in 2000.
How does Afghanistan rank for people not using safely managed drinking water sources?
Afghanistan ranks 14th out of 163 countries with data for 2024.
Is people not using safely managed drinking water sources rising or falling in Afghanistan?
Over the last ten years it is up 16.6%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this Afghanistan 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 People not using safely managed drinking water sources. 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
People not using safely managed drinking water sources
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
163 places, 3,991 data points, 2000–2024
Last refreshed

People not using safely managed drinking water sources either use unimproved drinking water sources or the improved sources they use are not located on their premises, not available when needed, or not free of contamination.