2.3 Billion of 7 Billion in World Still Lack Basic Toilet

About 2.3 billion of the 7 billion people on Earth lack a basic toilet, a slight improvement from last year, data from Unicef and the World Health Organization show.

The number of people without toilets was down 8 percent as the number lacking safe water fell to 650 million from 748 million in 2014, according to the joint monitoring program update issued Tuesday. Much of the improvements are due to progress in India and China. But “very little has changed for the world’s poorest people,” the agencies said.

Swathes of Africa remain a challenge as “at present rates of progress, it would take 300 years for everyone in sub-Saharan Africa to get access to a sanitary toilet,” according to the update.

Almost 700 million in Africa don’t have a basic toilet and at least 200 million defecate outdoors. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and its largest economy, “has actually shown worsening trends with decreasing access and increasing open defecation,” according to the update.

Read more at BLOOMBERG.

{Matzav.com Newscenter}