Water used this year
(million of liters)

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Global Water Use

Water Use by Country

Total: 3,997,039,700,000 cubic meters

Definitions

Water Use: can refer to water withdrawn or water consumed. In our data it refers to water witdrawn.

  • Water withdrawn
    Water removed from a lake or river. A portion of this water is often returned to the source and is available to be used again, therefore this source is termed “renewable water source.”
  • Water consumed
    Water removed for use and not returned to its source.

Sources and methods:

The data on water consumption in the world is provided by the United Nations (UN, UNESCO, and FAO, see list of publications below).

Worldwide, agriculture accounts for 70% of all water consumption, compared to 20% for industry and 10% for domestic use. In industrialized nations, however, industries consume more than half of the water available for human use. Belgium, for example, uses 80% of the water available for industry.

Freshwater withdrawals have tripled over the last 50 years. Demand for freshwater is increasing by 64 billion cubic meters a year (1 cubic meter = 1,000 liters)

  • The world’s population is growing by roughly 80 million people each year.
  • Changes in lifestyles and eating habits in recent years are requiring more water consumption per capita.
  • The production of biofuels has also increased sharply in recent years, with significant impact on water demand. Between 1,000 and 4,000 litres of water are needed to produce a single litre of biofuel.
  • Energy demand is also accelerating, with corresponding implications for water demand.

Almost 80% of diseases in so called “developing” countries are associated with water, causing some three million early deaths. For example, 5,000 children die every day from diarrhoea, or one every 17 seconds.

  • AQUASTAT - by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO): Information System on Water and Agriculture
  • Local flow regulation and irrigation raise global human water consumption and footprint. Science (December 2015)
  • Hoekstra, AY (2012). “The Water Footprint of Humanity”. PNAS.
  • World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) - monitors freshwater issues in order to provide recommendations, develop case studies, enhance assessment capacity at a national level and inform the decision-making process. Its primary product, the World Water Development Report (WWDR), is a periodic, comprehensive review providing an authoritative picture of the state of the world’s freshwater resources.
  • UN Water - organizes the World Water Week and World Water Day
  • Water Data - from The World’s Water, Pacific Institute
  • Global Water Outlook to 2025: Averting an Impending Crisis, Dealing with Scarcity, Policy Responses to the Threat of Scarcity - three separate publications published by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI)
  • Toward a world of thirst ? - by GRID-Arendal, an official United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) collaborating centre - given the volume of available water, and under the present circumstances, will it be possible to provide enough water to a population forecast to be at least 9 billion by 2050 (according to the medium hypothesis proposed by the United Nations) using a volume which will be roughly the same as it is now?