Bangladesh is often praised for getting people onto “improved” water sources. The harder standard is safely managed water: from an improved source, on the premises, available when needed and free from faecal and priority chemical contamination. By that measure, 59.1% of Bangladeshis had safe water in 2024, up only from 55.3% in 2000.
+3.8 points in 24 years
Gain in the share of people using safely managed drinking water, 2000 to 2024.
India started far behind, at 37.6% in 2000, drew level with Bangladesh around 2011 (54.7% against 54.9%) and reached 76.4% in 2024. Pakistan (45.0%) and Sri Lanka (46.9%) are lower than Bangladesh in 2024. In Nepal the share fell from 26.8% to 16.5%.
Bangladesh’s rural figure, 62.5% in 2024, is slightly higher than the national one, so the gap is not simply a rural–urban divide. The data do not say why progress has stalled. The WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme definition shows what is at stake: water must be free of contamination, and in Bangladesh that includes naturally occurring arsenic and faecal contamination. For policy, the shift from “access” to “safety” means testing and treating water at the point of use, not only building wells and pipes.
These are modelled estimates from household surveys and censuses, so small year-to-year changes should be read with caution.
Source: WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP), via World Bank WDI (SH.H2O.SMDW.ZS, SH.H2O.SMDW.RU.ZS).