What Percentage of Africans Lack Access to Clean Drinking Water?

The short answer: Roughly 1 in 3 people in Africa lack access to at least basic drinking-water services drinking-water services.  Basic drinking water is definite as having a water source within a 30 minute walk from where you live. So this still means that it could be up an hour round trip to get water. That means that about 30–32% of the population of the African continent—over 400 million people lack access to basic drinking water. When you are talking about the amount of people that do not have access to safe, clean water, the number is significantly higher—about 6 in 10 people in Africa.

Africa water Access Statistics – why the numbers look different

“Basic” counts community water points that are reasonably close; “safely managed” requires water at home that is reliable and tested. In many African countries, families collect water from public points (basic service), while relatively few households have a safe, reliable tap at home (safely managed).

Africa water Access Statistics – sources and further reading

• WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) – Definitions and service levels
• JMP regional snapshot for Africa – headline finding that ~411 million people in Africa lack even a basic drinking-water service (PDF): Africa Snapshot
• JMP global updates (safely managed coverage and trends): washdata.org

Where the need is greatest

Need is highest where coverage is lowest and where large rural populations still lack nearby points. For a country-by-country view and why Uganda remains a high-impact place for new boreholes, see our glossary article: Which countries have the greatest need?

What closes the gap

• More boreholes and small piped systems in rural districts
• Durable builds (concrete aprons, upgraded stainless-steel riser pipes, standard hand pumps or solar pumping where needed)
• Local stewardship (user committees, trained pump mechanics, and quick repair pathways)
• Sanitation & hygiene alongside water points to lock in health gains

Figures above come from the WHO/UNICEF JMP. Percentages vary by sub-region; for example, sub-Saharan Africa has particularly low “safely managed” coverage compared with North Africa. The big picture remains the same: hundreds of millions of Africans still lack nearby safe water, and the fastest, most practical fixes are more wells and better infrastructure.