Wastewater - connection rates to treatment — Public total treatment by country
This dataset provides information on the level of public equipment installed by countries to managed and abate water pollution. It shows the percentage of national population connected to "public" sewerage networks and related treatment facilities, and the percentage of national population connected to "public"...
What the numbers show
Wastewater - connection rates to treatment — Public total treatment is currently reported for 36 countries. The highest value is 100 Percentage of population in Chile; the lowest is 7.2 Percentage of population in Costa Rica.
The median across all reporting countries is 84.3 Percentage of population, and the mean is 73.54 Percentage of population.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 14.
Over the past decade 32 countries rose and 1 fell. The largest increase was in Iceland (up 720.0%), and the largest decrease in Costa Rica (down 5.8%).
Wastewater - connection rates to treatment — Public total treatment: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chile | 100 Percentage of population | 2024 | up 0.1% | rising |
| 1 | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland | 100 Percentage of population | 2014 | up 3.1% | rising |
| 3 | Israel | 99.8 Percentage of population | 2024 | up 3.3% | rising |
| 4 | Luxembourg | 99.6 Percentage of population | 2024 | up 1.2% | rising |
| 5 | Germany | 98.09 Percentage of population | 2022 | up 2.2% | rising |
| 6 | Switzerland | 98 Percentage of population | 2023 | unchanged | rising |
| 7 | Austria | 96.51 Percentage of population | 2024 | up 1.6% | rising |
| 8 | Greece | 95.1 Percentage of population | 2023 | up 2.5% | rising |
| 9 | Denmark | 93.46 Percentage of population | 2024 | up 3.0% | rising |
| 10 | Australia | 92.86 Percentage of population | 2024 | up 0.3% | flat |
| 11 | Spain | 89.08 Percentage of population | 2023 | up 1.8% | rising |
| 12 | Sweden | 88 Percentage of population | 2023 | up 1.1% | flat |
| 13 | Norway | 87.08 Percentage of population | 2024 | up 4.8% | rising |
| 14 | Czechia | 86.6 Percentage of population | 2024 | up 8.4% | rising |
| 15 | Canada | 85.1 Percentage of population | 2023 | up 1.1% | rising |
| 16 | Finland | 85 Percentage of population | 2024 | unchanged | rising |
| 17 | Hungary | 84.54 Percentage of population | 2024 | up 14.9% | rising |
| 18 | Belgium | 84.5 Percentage of population | 2024 | up 5.0% | rising |
| 19 | New Zealand | 84.1 Percentage of population | 2016 | up 3.2% | flat |
| 20 | France | 82 Percentage of population | 2024 | unchanged | rising |
| 21 | Japan | 81.1 Percentage of population | 2024 | up 4.5% | rising |
| 22 | United States of America | 75.5 Percentage of population | 2012 | up 0.1% | rising |
| 23 | Portugal | 70.7 Percentage of population | 2009 | up 68.3% | volatile |
| 24 | Italy | 70 Percentage of population | 2018 | up 16.7% | rising |
| 25 | Bulgaria | 67.37 Percentage of population | 2023 | up 19.4% | rising |
| 26 | Ireland | 66.19 Percentage of population | 2024 | up 7.4% | rising |
| 27 | South Africa | 65.5 Percentage of population | 2023 | up 14.9% | rising |
| 28 | Saudi Arabia | 61 Percentage of population | 2018 | up 38.6% | rising |
| 29 | Romania | 59.61 Percentage of population | 2024 | up 32.2% | rising |
| 30 | Brazil | 53.65 Percentage of population | 2023 | up 26.3% | rising |
| 31 | Armenia | 42 Percentage of population | 2023 | up 13.2% | rising |
| 32 | Georgia | 41.2 Percentage of population | 2023 | up 28.3% | rising |
| 33 | Azerbaijan | 26.2 Percentage of population | 2022 | up 81.9% | rising |
| 34 | Iceland | 16.4 Percentage of population | 1999 | up 720.0% | volatile |
| 35 | Thailand | 14.43 Percentage of population | 2023 | up 8.7% | rising |
| 36 | Costa Rica | 7.2 Percentage of population | 2024 | down 5.8% | falling |
Regions and income groups
Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.
- Netherlands 99.66 Percentage of population
- Korea 95.2 Percentage of population
- Estonia 84 Percentage of population
- Slovak Republic 71.87 Percentage of population
- Lithuania 80.72 Percentage of population
- Croatia 46.78 Percentage of population
- Latvia 79.18 Percentage of population
- Poland 76.24 Percentage of population
- Türkiye 73.42 Percentage of population
- Slovenia 69.78 Percentage of population
About this data
This dataset provides information on the level of public equipment installed by countries to managed and abate water pollution. It shows the percentage of national population connected to "public" sewerage networks and related treatment facilities, and the percentage of national population connected to "public" wastewater treatment plants, and the degree of treatment. Connected here means actually connected to a wastewater plants through a public sewage network. When analysing these data, it should be kept in mind that the optimal connection rate is not necessarily 100%. It may vary among countries and depends on geographical features and on the spatial distribution of habitats. The interpretation of those data should take into account some variations in countries' definitions, as reflected in metadata. Data source(s): Joint OECD/Eurostat questionnaire on Inland Waters. Data for non-OECD countries is sourced from UNSD (https://unstats.un.org/unsd/envstats/country_files) Contact: ENV.Stat@oecd.org Dataset release date: August 7, 2026 Country metadata - Métadonnées pays