Who still lacks safe drinking water

According to the WHO/UNICEF JMP estimate for 2024, 2.1 billion people—about one in four worldwide—lacked safely managed drinking-water services; this includes 106 million who drank directly from untreated surface sources. This classification considers whether water is available at home, when needed, and safe. Additional older figures about China’s waters in the source list should not be presented as current: China’s 2024 government assessment reports different surface-water and groundwater quality indicators. [1–4]