World Toilet Day

   “ In a changing world, one thing is constant: we’ll always need the toilet. No matter what lies ahead, we will always rely on sanitation to protect us from diseases and keep our environment clean. Today, billions of people still live without a safe toilet — with the poorest, especially women and girls, worst affected. ”  • A “safe toilet” is shorthand for ‘safely managed sanitation’ , which means a toilet that is not shared with other households, that either treats or disposes of human waste on site, stores it safely to be emptied and treated off site, or connects to a functioning sewer and treatment plant. • Sanitation is a human right – entitling everyone to affordable and accessible sanitation services, in all spheres of life. • Inadequate sanitation lets human waste and wastewater contaminate the environment, especially in densely populated areas. Children are particularly vulnerable to diseases, such as cholera, which are spread by exposure to untreated waste. • ...

• 3.4 billion people still live without safely managed sanitation services — that’s nearly half the world’s population. (WHO/UNICEF, 2025)  • 354 million people still practise open defecation , increasing the risk of disease and harm, especially for women and girls. (WHO/UNICEF, 2025)  • Only 58% of the global population use a safely managed sanitation service — which means an improved toilet that is not shared, and has excreta safely disposed of in situ or transported and treated offsite. (WHO/UNICEF, 2025)

 At the current rates of progress, 3 billion people will still be living without safe toilets in 2030 . (WHO/UNICEF, 2023)  Globally, to achieve SDG target 6.2 –sanitation for all by 2030 – will require a six-foldincrease, on average, in the rate of progress on sanitation . In low-income countries, rates need to increase 13-fold for basic sanitation, and 21-fold for safely managed sanitation. (WHO/UNICEF, 2023)