Share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services in Nepal

Nepal: Share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services was 94.0% in 2024. ▲ Rising

Latest (2024)
94.0%
Change on year
up 0.7%
World rank
85th
of 178 countries
All-time high
94.0%
in 2024
All-time low
77.7%
in 2000
Years of data
25
2000–2024

Share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services in Nepal, 2000–2024

0204060801002000201220242000: 77.7 %2001: 78.4 %2002: 79.1 %2003: 79.8 %2004: 80.5 %2005: 81.2 %2006: 81.8 %2007: 82.5 %2008: 83.2 %2009: 83.9 %2010: 84.6 %2011: 85.3 %2012: 85.9 %2013: 86.6 %2014: 87.3 %2015: 88 %2016: 88.7 %2017: 89.3 %2018: 90 %2019: 90.7 %2020: 91.3 %2021: 92 %2022: 92.7 %2023: 93.4 %2024: 94 %

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

Analysis

Nepal recorded 94.0% for share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services in 2024. That is the highest value across all 25 years on record.

That represents a change of up 0.7% on the previous year and up 7.7% over ten years.

Over the whole period, share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services in Nepal peaked at 94.0% in 2024 and was at its lowest, 77.7%, in 2000.

That places Nepal 85th out of 178 countries with data for 2024, putting it in the middle of the range.

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

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
2000s 80.8% 77.7% 83.9% 10
2010s 87.6% 84.6% 90.7% 10
2020s 92.7% 91.3% 94.0% 5

Countries ranked near Nepal

  1. 82 Azerbaijan 94.7% compare
  2. 83 Turkey 94.5% compare
  3. 84 Albania 94.1% compare
  4. 86 Marshall Islands 93.9% compare
  5. 87 China 93.8% compare
  6. 88 Georgia 93.7% compare

See the full ranking of 178 places →

More environment data for Nepal

All data for Nepal →

Frequently asked questions

What is share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services in Nepal?
Share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services in Nepal was 94.0% 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 Nepal?
The highest recorded value was 94.0% in 2024.
What is the lowest share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services recorded in Nepal?
The lowest recorded value was 77.7% in 2000.
How does Nepal rank for share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services?
Nepal ranks 85th 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 Nepal?
Over the last ten years it is up 7.7%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this Nepal 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.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 25 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).

About this data

Indicator
Share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services
Unit
%
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, 4,351 data points, 2000–2024
Last refreshed

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.