Handwashing facilities — all countries

Handwashing facilities — Sub-Saharan Africa

Handwashing facilities in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2024 — 25%. Since 2011, the indicator has risen by 4.1 pp.

2024 25% +0.6 pp vs 2023
World rank
Period maximum 25%2024
Period minimum 20.9%2011

Trend over time

2011–2024 · % of population

Handwashing facilities — Sub-Saharan Africa, 2011–202420222426201120132015201720192021202320242011: 20.9%2012: 22.7%2013: 23.4%2014: 22.9%2015: 23%2016: 23.3%2017: 23.3%2018: 23.5%2019: 23.8%2020: 24%2021: 23.1%2022: 23.4%2023: 24.4%2024: 25%
Change over the period: +4.1 pp Annual average: 0.32 pp

Comparison, 2024

How the value compares with the world and the groups this territory belongs to: Sub-Saharan Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa 25%
World 78%
Handwashing facilities — Sub-Saharan Africa, by year Sub-Saharan Africa All countries CSV XLSX
Year % Change, pp
2024 25 +0.6 pp
2023 24.4 +0.9 pp
2022 23.4 +0.3 pp
2021 23.1 −0.9 pp
2020 24 +0.1 pp
2019 23.8 +0.3 pp
2018 23.5 +0.2 pp
2017 23.3 +0 pp
2016 23.3 +0.3 pp
2015 23 +0.1 pp
2014 22.9 −0.5 pp
2013 23.4 +0.6 pp
2012 22.7 +1.8 pp
2011 20.9

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.