People practicing open defecation in World
World: People practicing open defecation was 4.3% in 2024. ▼ Falling
People practicing open defecation in World, 2000–2024
Source: WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene, World Health Organization (WHO). Measured in % of population.
Analysis
World recorded 4.3% for people practicing open defecation in 2024. That is the lowest value across all 25 years on record.
The figure is down 12.1% on the previous year and down 61.6% over ten years.
Over the whole period, people practicing open defecation in World peaked at 22.0% in 2000 and was at its lowest, 4.3%, in 2024.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 25 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 18.3% | 14.9% | 22.0% | 10 |
| 2010s | 11.0% | 7.8% | 14.2% | 10 |
| 2020s | 5.7% | 4.3% | 7.1% | 5 |
More health data for World
- Population ages 15-64, male 65.8% (2025)
- Age dependency ratio 54.5% (2025)
- Population, female 4.09 billion (2025)
- Age dependency ratio, old 16.0% (2025)
- Population ages 65 and above, female 474.56 million (2025)
- Population ages 65 and above 10.4% (2025)
- Population ages 15-64, total 5.36 billion (2025)
- Population ages 65 and above, total 854.60 million (2025)
- Population ages 15-64, female 2.64 billion (2025)
- Population ages 65 and above, male 380.05 million (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is people practicing open defecation in World?
- People practicing open defecation in World was 4.3% in 2024, according to WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene, World Health Organization (WHO).
- What is the highest people practicing open defecation recorded in World?
- The highest recorded value was 22.0% in 2000.
- What is the lowest people practicing open defecation recorded in World?
- The lowest recorded value was 4.3% in 2024.
- Is people practicing open defecation rising or falling in World?
- Over the last ten years it is down 61.6%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this World data come from?
- The figures come from WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene, World Health Organization (WHO), published as part of People practicing open defecation (% of population). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 25 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
People practicing open defecation refers to the percentage of the population defecating in the open, such as in fields, forest, bushes, open bodies of water, on beaches, in other open spaces or disposed of with solid waste.