Share of urban population using at least basic water services in Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone: Share of urban population using at least basic water services was 81.7% in 2024. ▲ Rising
Share of urban population using at least basic water services in Sierra Leone, 2000–2024
Source: WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (2025) – processed by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
Sierra Leone recorded 81.7% for share of urban population using at least basic water services in 2024. That is the highest value across all 25 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 0.8% on the previous year and up 8.4% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of urban population using at least basic water services in Sierra Leone peaked at 81.7% in 2024 and was at its lowest, 66.9%, in 2000.
Sierra Leone ranks 174th of 188 countries on this measure, in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 25 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 69.6% | 66.9% | 72.3% | 10 |
| 2010s | 75.7% | 72.9% | 78.5% | 10 |
| 2020s | 80.4% | 79.2% | 81.7% | 5 |
Countries ranked near Sierra Leone
More environment data for Sierra Leone
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF 7.93 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF per capita 0.9174 t CO2e/capita (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Agriculture 2.62 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Building (Energy) 0.7175 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Fugitive Emissions (Energy) 1.45 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Industrial Combustion (Energy) 0.0007 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions (total) excluding LULUCF 5.57 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Power Industry (Energy) 0.0004 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Transport (Energy) 0.005 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Waste 0.7846 Mt CO2e (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is share of urban population using at least basic water services in Sierra Leone?
- Share of urban population using at least basic water services in Sierra Leone was 81.7% 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 urban population using at least basic water services recorded in Sierra Leone?
- The highest recorded value was 81.7% in 2024.
- What is the lowest share of urban population using at least basic water services recorded in Sierra Leone?
- The lowest recorded value was 66.9% in 2000.
- How does Sierra Leone rank for share of urban population using at least basic water services?
- Sierra Leone ranks 174th out of 188 countries with data for 2024.
- Is share of urban population using at least basic water services rising or falling in Sierra Leone?
- Over the last ten years it is up 8.4%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Sierra Leone 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 urban population using at least basic 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.