Water facts and figures

Water use
Did you know that the world uses:
 70 percent freshwater for irrigation
 22 percent freshwater for industry
 8 percent freshwater for domestic use
Did you know that by 2025, water withdrawals are predicted to increase by:
 50 percent in developing countries
 18 percent in developed countries
Did you know that by 2025:
 1800 million people will be living in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity
 two-thirds of the world population could be under stress conditions caused by water
scarcity
Did you know that:
 the world's six billion people are using 54 percent of all accessible freshwater contained
in rivers, lakes and underground aquifers
 the volume of freshwater resources is around 35 million km 3, or about 2.5 percent of the
total volume which is 1.4 billion km3
 about 24 million km3 or 70 percent of freshwater resources is in the form of ice and
permanent snow cover in mountainous regions, the Antarctic and Arctic regions

Drinking water and sanitation

Did you know that:
 the UN suggests that we need 20-50 litres of safe freshwater a day for drinking, cooking
and cleaning
 more than one in six people worldwide - 894 million - don't have access to 20-50 litres of
safe freshwater a day
 the daily drinking water requirement per person is 2-4 litres, but it takes 2000 to 5000
litres of water to produce one person's daily food
 2.5 billion people, including almost one billion children, live without basic sanitation.
 every 20 seconds, a child dies as a result of poor sanitation. That's 1.5 million
preventable deaths each year
 globally, diarrhoea is the leading cause of illness and death, and 88 per cent of
diarrhoeal deaths are due to a lack of access to sanitation facilities, together with
inadequate availability of water for hygiene and unsafe drinking water.

Water, agriculture and food security

Did you know that:
 it takes 1000-3000 litres of water to produce one kilo of rice
 It takes 13,000 to 15,000 litres of water to produce one kilo of beef and 94% of that
water is “green” – meaning it comes from rain that falls on crops and pastures, with
marginal environmental impact
 277 million hectares, about 20 percent of all cropland is under irrigation
 rainfed agriculture is practiced on 80 percent of the arable land
 irrigation multiplies yields of most crops by 2 to 5 times
 irrigated agriculture currently contributes to 40 percent of the world's food production
and the remaining 60 percent comes from rainfed systems
 over the period to 2050 world's water will have to support the agricultural systems that
will feed and create livelihoods for an additional 2.7 billion people
 rapidly growing demand for meat and milk in urban areas of developing countries will
substantially increase the need for agricultural water resources, especially for feed
productionWater pollution, environmental degradation and disasters
Did you know that:
 every day, 2 million tons of human waste are disposed of in water courses
 in developing countries, 70 percent of industrial wastes are dumped into waters where
they pollute the usable water supply
 since 1900 we've lost half of the world's wetlands
 between 1991 and 2000 over 665,000 people died in 2,557 natural disasters of which
90 percent were water-related events.

Water footprints
Did you know that we need:
 13 litres of water of a tomato
 25 litres of water for a potato
 35 litres of water of a cup of tea
 70 litres of water for an apple
 75 litres of water for a glass of beer
 120 litres of water for a glass of wine
 140 litres of water for a cup of coffee
 170 litres of water of a glass of orange juice
 184 litres of water for a bag of potato crisps
 200 litres of water for a glass of milk
 2400 litres of water for a hamburger
 15000 litres of water is needed to produce one kilo of beef and 94% of that water is
“green” – meaning it comes from rain that falls on crops and pastures, with marginal
environmental impact