Handwashing facilities — all countries

Handwashing facilities — Southern Africa

Handwashing facilities in Southern Africa in 2020 — 43.1%. Since 2009, the indicator has risen by 21.4 pp.

2020 43.1% +0.2 pp vs 2019
World rank
Period maximum 43.1%2020
Period minimum 21.7%2009

Trend over time

2009–2020 · % of population

Handwashing facilities — Southern Africa, 2009–20202030405020092011201320152017201920202009: 21.7%2010: 22.2%2011: 22.6%2012: 41.5%2013: 41.7%2014: 41.9%2015: 42.1%2016: 42.3%2017: 42.5%2018: 42.7%2019: 42.9%2020: 43.1%
Change over the period: +21.4 pp Annual average: 1.95 pp

Comparison, 2020

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

Southern Africa 43.1%
World 72.5%
Handwashing facilities — Southern Africa, by year Southern Africa All countries CSV XLSX
Year % Change, pp
2020 43.1 +0.2 pp
2019 42.9 +0.2 pp
2018 42.7 +0.1 pp
2017 42.5 +0.2 pp
2016 42.3 +0.2 pp
2015 42.1 +0.2 pp
2014 41.9 +0.2 pp
2013 41.7 +0.2 pp
2012 41.5 +18.9 pp
2011 22.6 +0.5 pp
2010 22.2 +0.5 pp
2009 21.7

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.