The UN's latest Millennium Development Goals Report notes that progress in sanitation has largely bypassed the poor while rural populations remain disadvantaged. At the current rate of progress, it will take until 2049 to provide 77 per cent of the global population with improved sanitation.
Published on: 30/09/2011
The UN's latest Millennium Development Goals Report [1] notes that progress in sanitation has largely bypassed the poor while rural populations remain disadvantaged.
An analysis of trends over the period 1995-2008 for three countries in Southern Asia shows that improvements in sanitation disproportionately benefited the better off, while sanitation coverage for the poorest 40 per cent of households hardly increased.
Although gaps in sanitation coverage between urban and rural areas are narrowing, rural populations remain at a distinct disadvantage in a number of regions. Globally, an urban resident is 1.7 times more likely to use an improved sanitation facility than someone living in a rural area
Unlike for water supply, the world is far from meeting the MDG sanitation target, the report says. At the current rate of progress, it will take until 2049 to provide 77 per cent of the global population with improved sanitation.
Northern Africa is the only region that has already surpassed the MDG sanitation target. Coverage increased from 72 per cent in 1990 to 89 per cent in 2008.
[1] UN (2011). The Millennium Development Goals Report 2011. Download report
For more statistics on sanitation disparities see:
Related news: Sustainable sanitation: UN Secretary-General launches the Five-Year-Drive to 2015, E-Source, 29 Jun 2011
