Handwashing facilities — all countries

Handwashing facilities — Eastern Africa

Handwashing facilities in Eastern Africa in 2024 — 21%. Since 2013, the indicator has risen by 6 pp.

2024 21% +0.9 pp vs 2023
World rank
Period maximum 21%2024
Period minimum 15%2013

Trend over time

2013–2024 · % of population

Handwashing facilities — Eastern Africa, 2013–2024141618202220132015201720192021202320242013: 15%2014: 15.2%2015: 15.3%2016: 16.2%2017: 16.9%2018: 17.5%2019: 18.1%2020: 18.6%2021: 19.1%2022: 19.6%2023: 20.1%2024: 21%
Change over the period: +6 pp Annual average: 0.54 pp

Comparison, 2024

How the value compares with the world and the groups this territory belongs to: Eastern Africa

Eastern Africa 21%
World 78%
Handwashing facilities — Eastern Africa, by year Eastern Africa All countries CSV XLSX
Year % Change, pp
2024 21 +0.9 pp
2023 20.1 +0.5 pp
2022 19.6 +0.5 pp
2021 19.1 +0.5 pp
2020 18.6 +0.5 pp
2019 18.1 +0.6 pp
2018 17.5 +0.5 pp
2017 16.9 +0.7 pp
2016 16.2 +0.9 pp
2015 15.3 +0.1 pp
2014 15.2 +0.2 pp
2013 15

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.