People using at least basic sanitation services, rural (% of rural population) - Country Ranking - Europe

Definition: The percentage of people using at least basic sanitation services, that is, improved sanitation facilities that are not shared with other households. This indicator encompasses both people using basic sanitation services as well as those using safely managed sanitation services. Improved sanitation facilities include flush/pour flush to piped sewer systems, septic tanks or pit latrines; ventilated improved pit latrines, compositing toilets or pit latrines with slabs.

Source: WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (washdata.org).

See also: Thematic map, Time series comparison

Find indicator:
Rank Country Value Year
1 Andorra 100.00 2020
1 Austria 100.00 2020
1 Spain 100.00 2020
1 Iceland 100.00 2020
1 Malta 100.00 2020
1 Poland 100.00 2020
7 Switzerland 99.90 2020
8 Italy 99.90 2020
9 Netherlands 99.89 2020
10 Portugal 99.80 2020
11 Sweden 99.65 2020
12 Denmark 99.60 2020
13 Belgium 99.49 2020
14 United Kingdom 99.47 2020
15 Finland 99.45 2020
16 Estonia 99.38 2020
17 Albania 99.28 2020
18 Czech Republic 99.25 2020
19 Germany 98.99 2020
20 France 98.89 2020
21 Cyprus 98.79 2020
22 Luxembourg 98.75 2020
23 Hungary 98.57 2020
24 Norway 98.30 2020
25 Greece 98.14 2020
26 Turkey 97.25 2020
27 Ukraine 97.17 2020
28 North Macedonia 96.76 2020
29 Belarus 96.60 2020
30 Slovak Republic 96.18 2020
31 Serbia 95.65 2020
32 Croatia 94.82 2020
33 Ireland 94.48 2020
34 Montenegro 93.91 2020
35 Bosnia and Herzegovina 92.14 2018
36 Lithuania 86.22 2020
37 Latvia 84.17 2020
38 Bulgaria 83.71 2020
39 Romania 75.57 2020
40 Moldova 72.63 2020

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Development Relevance: Sanitation is fundamental to human development. Many international organizations use hygienic sanitation facilities as a measure for progress in the fight against poverty, disease, and death. Access to proper sanitation is also considered to be a human right, not a privilege, for every man, woman, and child. Sanitation generally refers to the provision of facilities and services for the safe disposal of human urine and feces. Inadequate sanitation is a major cause of disease world-wide and improving sanitation is known to have a significant beneficial impact on people's health. Basic and safely managed sanitation services can reduce diarrheal disease, and can significantly lessen the adverse health impacts of other disorders responsible for death and disease among millions of children. Diarrhea and worm infections weaken children and make them more susceptible to malnutrition and opportunistic infections like pneumonia, measles and malaria. The combined effects of inadequate sanitation, unsafe water supply and poor personal hygiene are responsible for many of childhood deaths. Every year, the failure to tackle these deficits results in severe welfare losses - wasted time, reduced productivity, ill health, impaired learning, environmental degradation and lost opportunities. Fundamental behavior changes are required before the use of improved facilities and services can be integrated into daily life. Many hygiene behaviors and habits are formed in childhood and, therefore, school health and hygiene education programs are an important part of water and sanitation improvements. Most basic sanitation technologies are not expensive to implement. However, those facing the problems of inadequate sanitation may not be aware of either the origin of their ills, or the true costs of poor sanitation and hygiene. As a result, in most of the developing countries those without sanitation are hard to convince of the need to invest scarce resources in sanitation facilities, or of the critical importance of changing long-held habits and unhygienic behaviors. Consequently, the people's representatives - governments and elected political leaders - rarely give sanitation or hygiene improvements the priority that is needed in order to tackle the massive sanitation deficit faced by the developing world. Children bear the brunt of sanitation-related impacts - their health, nutrition, growth, education, self-respect, and life opportunities suffer as a result of inadequate sanitation. Without improved sanitation, many of the current generation of children in developing countries are unlikely to develop to their full potential. Countries that don't take urgent action to redress sanitation deficiencies will find their future development and prosperity impaired.

Limitations and Exceptions: National, regional and income group estimates are made when data are available for at least 50 percent of the population.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: Data on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene are produced by the Joint Monitoring Programme of the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) based on administrative sources, national censuses and nationally representative household surveys. WHO/UNICEF defines basic sanitation facilities as improved sanitation facilities that are not shared with other households. Improved sanitation facilities include flush/pour flush to piped sewer systems, septic tanks or pit latrines; ventilated improved pit latrines, compositing toilets or pit latrines with slabs.

Aggregation method: Weighted average

Periodicity: Annual