Share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services in Democratic Republic of Congo
Democratic Republic of Congo: Share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services was 13.8% in 2024. ▼ Falling
Share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services in Democratic Republic of Congo, 2000–2024
Source: WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (2025) – processed by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
Democratic Republic of Congo recorded 13.8% for share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services in 2024. That is the lowest value across all 25 years on record.
That represents a change of down 15.5% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services in Democratic Republic of Congo peaked at 19.6% in 2000 and was at its lowest, 13.8%, in 2022.
Democratic Republic of Congo ranks 178th of 178 countries on this measure, in the bottom 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 | 18.7% | 17.7% | 19.6% | 10 |
| 2010s | 16.2% | 14.8% | 17.4% | 10 |
| 2020s | 14.0% | 13.8% | 14.5% | 5 |
Countries ranked near Democratic Republic of Congo
- 175 Equatorial Guinea 30.8% compare
- 176 Eritrea 27.8% compare
- 177 Central African Republic 27.4% compare
More environment data for Democratic Republic of Congo
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF 58.49 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF per capita 0.5353 t CO2e/capita (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Agriculture 3.5 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Building (Energy) 7.67 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Fugitive Emissions (Energy) 17.49 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Industrial Combustion (Energy) 0.0166 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions (total) excluding LULUCF 42.16 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Power Industry (Energy) 0.0035 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Transport (Energy) 0.024 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Waste 13.45 Mt CO2e (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services in Democratic Republic of Congo?
- Share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services in Democratic Republic of Congo was 13.8% 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 share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services recorded in Democratic Republic of Congo?
- The highest recorded value was 19.6% in 2000.
- What is the lowest share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services recorded in Democratic Republic of Congo?
- The lowest recorded value was 13.8% in 2022.
- How does Democratic Republic of Congo rank for share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services?
- Democratic Republic of Congo ranks 178th out of 178 countries with data for 2024.
- Is share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services rising or falling in Democratic Republic of Congo?
- Over the last ten years it is down 15.5%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Democratic Republic of Congo 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 Share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
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CSV · JSON — 25 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Proportion of people who use an improved drinking water source, which is either located on their premises, or at a collection point, which takes no more than 30 minutes for a roundtrip.