- Surveys from 45 developing countries show that women and children bear the primary responsibility for water collection in the vast majority of households (76%). This is time not spent working at an income-generating job, caring for family members, or attending school.
- Reductions in time to collect water has been found to increase school attendance.
- It is estimated that women and children spend 140 million hours each day collecting water.
- Every minute a child dies from a water-related disease.
- Diarrhea is the 4th leading cause of child death, a majority of which are water-related.
- Diarrhea kills children at a rate equivalent to a jumbo jet crashing every ten hours.
- An estimated 622,000 children under the age of five die each year from diarrheal diseases globally.
From the World Health Organization and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP). (2015) Progress on Drinking Water and Sanitation, 2015 Update and MDG Assessment