Handwashing facilities — all countries

Handwashing facilities — Middle Africa

Handwashing facilities in Middle Africa in 2024 — 34.5%. Since 2011, the indicator has risen by 5.2 pp.

2024 34.5% +0.1 pp vs 2023
World rank
Period maximum 34.5%2024
Period minimum 25.4%2014

Trend over time

2011–2024 · % of population

Handwashing facilities — Middle Africa, 2011–20242527.53032.535201120132015201720192021202320242011: 29.3%2012: 29.7%2013: 32.1%2014: 25.4%2015: 25.6%2016: 25.8%2017: 26.2%2018: 26.4%2019: 26.6%2020: 26.1%2021: 26.2%2022: 26.3%2023: 34.4%2024: 34.5%
Change over the period: +5.2 pp Annual average: 0.4 pp

Comparison, 2024

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

Middle Africa 34.5%
World 78%
Handwashing facilities — Middle Africa, by year Middle Africa All countries CSV XLSX
Year % Change, pp
2024 34.5 +0.1 pp
2023 34.4 +8.1 pp
2022 26.3 +0.1 pp
2021 26.2 +0.2 pp
2020 26.1 −0.5 pp
2019 26.6 +0.2 pp
2018 26.4 +0.2 pp
2017 26.2 +0.5 pp
2016 25.8 +0.2 pp
2015 25.6 +0.2 pp
2014 25.4 −6.7 pp
2013 32.1 +2.4 pp
2012 29.7 +0.4 pp
2011 29.3

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.