Share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka: Share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services was 88.4% in 2024. ▲ Rising
Share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services in Sri Lanka, 2000–2024
Source: WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (2025) – processed by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
Sri Lanka recorded 88.4% 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.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 3.5% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services in Sri Lanka peaked at 88.4% in 2023 and was at its lowest, 80.9%, in 2000.
Sri Lanka ranks 106th of 178 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 25 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 82.4% | 80.9% | 83.8% | 10 |
| 2010s | 85.6% | 84.2% | 87.1% | 10 |
| 2020s | 88.0% | 87.4% | 88.4% | 5 |
Countries ranked near Sri Lanka
- 103 Guatemala 89.2% compare
- 104 North Korea 88.8% compare
- 105 Moldova 88.7% compare
- 108 Peru 87.3% compare
- 109 Tajikistan 86.9% compare
More environment data for Sri Lanka
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF 37.17 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF per capita 1.7 t CO2e/capita (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Agriculture 5.57 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Building (Energy) 0.6851 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Fugitive Emissions (Energy) 0.0046 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Industrial Combustion (Energy) 0.0737 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions (total) excluding LULUCF 11.12 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Power Industry (Energy) 0.0059 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Transport (Energy) 0.0632 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Waste 4.72 Mt CO2e (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services in Sri Lanka?
- Share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services in Sri Lanka was 88.4% 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 Sri Lanka?
- The highest recorded value was 88.4% in 2023.
- What is the lowest share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services recorded in Sri Lanka?
- The lowest recorded value was 80.9% in 2000.
- How does Sri Lanka rank for share of the rural population using at least a basic drinking water services?
- Sri Lanka ranks 106th 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 Sri Lanka?
- Over the last ten years it is up 3.5%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Sri Lanka 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
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.