Water and sanitation in the WHO European Region: 2014 Highlights (2015)

2015

Despite overall high levels of access to improved drinking-water sources and sanitation facilities in the WHO European Region, the 2014 update of the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation shows that there are still people with unmet basic needs in the Region. Significant discrepancies between sub-regions and countries, urban and rural areas as well as wealth-related disparities remain. While 68 million people gained access to improved sanitation between 1990 and 2012, the WHO European Region is not on track to meet the sanitation target of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) in 2015. Moreover, the Caucasus and central Asia is the only MDG region globally where access to improved drinking-water sources has declined between 1990 and 2012.