Handwashing facilities — all countries

Handwashing facilities — Lower-middle-income countries

Handwashing facilities in lower-middle-income countries in 2024 — 76.9%. Since 2011, the indicator has risen by 24.8 pp.

2024 76.9% +0.4 pp vs 2023
World rank
Period maximum 76.9%2024
Period minimum 52.1%2011

Trend over time

2011–2024 · % of population

Handwashing facilities — Lower-middle-income countries, 2011–202450607080201120132015201720192021202320242011: 52.1%2012: 52.6%2013: 53.4%2014: 53.9%2015: 57.1%2016: 59.7%2017: 61.5%2018: 64.2%2019: 66.7%2020: 69.2%2021: 71.7%2022: 74.1%2023: 76.5%2024: 76.9%
Change over the period: +24.8 pp Annual average: 1.91 pp

Comparison, 2024

How the value compares with the world and the groups this territory belongs to: Lower-middle-income countries

Lower-middle-income countries 76.9%
World 78%
Handwashing facilities — Lower-middle-income countries, by year Lower-middle-income countries All countries CSV XLSX
Year % Change, pp
2024 76.9 +0.4 pp
2023 76.5 +2.4 pp
2022 74.1 +2.4 pp
2021 71.7 +2.5 pp
2020 69.2 +2.5 pp
2019 66.7 +2.5 pp
2018 64.2 +2.7 pp
2017 61.5 +1.7 pp
2016 59.7 +2.6 pp
2015 57.1 +3.2 pp
2014 53.9 +0.5 pp
2013 53.4 +0.8 pp
2012 52.6 +0.5 pp
2011 52.1

About the indicator

The share of the population that has an equipped place for washing hands with water and soap in the dwelling. The indicator looks a small one next to piped water and sewerage, but in its contribution to reducing diarrheal and respiratory disease it is comparable to them, and it costs incomparably less. The COVID-19 pandemic made it visible: it turned out that in the poorest countries of Africa fewer than a quarter of the population have facilities for washing hands.

Important: Not all countries are surveyed: where practically everyone has such facilities, these data are not collected. That is why the aggregate by country group is computed only where coverage is sufficient — averaging the surveyed countries alone would give a picture noticeably worse than the reality.

Source: Global Health Observatory (WHO), license CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.