People using at least basic sanitation services, urban (% of urban population) - Country Ranking - Africa

Definition: The percentage of people using at least basic sanitation services, that is, improved sanitation facilities that are not shared with other households. This indicator encompasses both people using basic sanitation services as well as those using safely managed sanitation services. Improved sanitation facilities include flush/pour flush to piped sewer systems, septic tanks or pit latrines; ventilated improved pit latrines, compositing toilets or pit latrines with slabs.

Source: WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (washdata.org).

See also: Thematic map, Time series comparison

Find indicator:
Rank Country Value Year
1 Egypt 99.74 2020
2 Tunisia 97.58 2020
3 Morocco 96.36 2020
4 Mauritius 95.97 2020
5 Botswana 91.37 2020
6 Algeria 88.28 2020
7 Cabo Verde 82.73 2020
8 Djibouti 79.32 2020
9 South Africa 77.13 2020
10 Mauritania 74.80 2020
11 Equatorial Guinea 69.90 2017
12 Senegal 68.13 2020
13 Angola 65.31 2020
14 Mozambique 61.34 2020
15 Cameroon 60.83 2020
16 Sudan 60.14 2020
17 The Gambia 59.64 2020
18 Somalia 56.39 2020
19 Mali 55.76 2020
20 Niger 51.70 2020
21 Nigeria 51.68 2020
22 Eswatini 51.51 2020
23 Gabon 50.93 2020
24 São Tomé and Principe 50.76 2020
25 Rwanda 50.46 2020
26 Namibia 49.74 2020
27 Côte d'Ivoire 47.70 2020
28 Tanzania 47.33 2020
29 Lesotho 47.30 2020
30 Guinea 45.57 2020
31 Comoros 45.24 2019
32 Zimbabwe 41.83 2020
33 Burundi 41.25 2020
34 Zambia 40.98 2020
35 Burkina Faso 40.27 2020
36 Chad 39.73 2020
37 Kenya 35.57 2020
38 Guinea-Bissau 34.67 2020
39 Malawi 34.34 2020
40 Togo 32.50 2020
41 Liberia 29.02 2020
42 Ghana 28.37 2020
43 Uganda 27.98 2020
44 Congo 27.20 2020
45 Benin 26.51 2020
46 Central African Republic 25.31 2020
47 Sierra Leone 25.29 2020
48 Eritrea 21.99 2016
49 Ethiopia 21.39 2020
50 Dem. Rep. Congo 20.35 2020
51 Madagascar 18.54 2020

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Development Relevance: Sanitation is fundamental to human development. Many international organizations use hygienic sanitation facilities as a measure for progress in the fight against poverty, disease, and death. Access to proper sanitation is also considered to be a human right, not a privilege, for every man, woman, and child. Sanitation generally refers to the provision of facilities and services for the safe disposal of human urine and feces. Inadequate sanitation is a major cause of disease world-wide and improving sanitation is known to have a significant beneficial impact on people's health. Basic and safely managed sanitation services can reduce diarrheal disease, and can significantly lessen the adverse health impacts of other disorders responsible for death and disease among millions of children. Diarrhea and worm infections weaken children and make them more susceptible to malnutrition and opportunistic infections like pneumonia, measles and malaria. The combined effects of inadequate sanitation, unsafe water supply and poor personal hygiene are responsible for many of childhood deaths. Every year, the failure to tackle these deficits results in severe welfare losses - wasted time, reduced productivity, ill health, impaired learning, environmental degradation and lost opportunities. Fundamental behavior changes are required before the use of improved facilities and services can be integrated into daily life. Many hygiene behaviors and habits are formed in childhood and, therefore, school health and hygiene education programs are an important part of water and sanitation improvements. Most basic sanitation technologies are not expensive to implement. However, those facing the problems of inadequate sanitation may not be aware of either the origin of their ills, or the true costs of poor sanitation and hygiene. As a result, in most of the developing countries those without sanitation are hard to convince of the need to invest scarce resources in sanitation facilities, or of the critical importance of changing long-held habits and unhygienic behaviors. Consequently, the people's representatives - governments and elected political leaders - rarely give sanitation or hygiene improvements the priority that is needed in order to tackle the massive sanitation deficit faced by the developing world. Children bear the brunt of sanitation-related impacts - their health, nutrition, growth, education, self-respect, and life opportunities suffer as a result of inadequate sanitation. Without improved sanitation, many of the current generation of children in developing countries are unlikely to develop to their full potential. Countries that don't take urgent action to redress sanitation deficiencies will find their future development and prosperity impaired.

Limitations and Exceptions: National, regional and income group estimates are made when data are available for at least 50 percent of the population.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: Data on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene are produced by the Joint Monitoring Programme of the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) based on administrative sources, national censuses and nationally representative household surveys. WHO/UNICEF defines basic sanitation facilities as improved sanitation facilities that are not shared with other households. Improved sanitation facilities include flush/pour flush to piped sewer systems, septic tanks or pit latrines; ventilated improved pit latrines, compositing toilets or pit latrines with slabs.

Aggregation method: Weighted average

Periodicity: Annual