Meeting Sanitation MDG target a challenge says new report

Sadly this means that even with increased access to improved sanitation facilities – the definition being a separation of human waste in the living environment – the Millennium Development goal of 77% has not been reached (right now the target is on 68%). That means since 1990 2.1 billion people have gained better access to improved sanitation facilities but falls sort of some 700 million people.

These figures at face value do not appear too far short of their goal. However, if you look at the global average at a macro level you will see that the gap between some countries is enormous. For example only 6.7% of the people of South Sudan have access to toilets which stands in stark contrast to other countries that have 100%, countries like Andorra, Israel and Greenland. With this in mind new Sustainable Development Goals and targets are being set for 2030 and will be decided by the UN General Assembly in September 2015.

Sanjay Wijesejera, head of the UNICER’s global water, sanitation and hygiene programmes said “If we are to reach universal access to sanitation by 2030, we need to ensure the poorest start making progress right away”.

See below for a more detailed look which countries have the least access to toilets.