Progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene : 2017 update and SDG baselines

This 2017 update report presents indicators and baseline estimates for the drinking water, sanitation and hygiene targets within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - SDG 61 and SDG 6.2. The report introduces the indicators of safely managed drinking water and sanitation services, which go beyond use of improved facilities, to include consideration of the quality of services provided. For the first time, hygiene estimates are reported for 70 countries.

Following an overview of the report's highlights, section 2 introduces the 2030 vision for water, sanitation and hygiene and the new service ladders for water supply, sanitation and hygiene, which enable benchmarking and comparison of progress across countries, Section 3 examines coverage of basic drinking water and sanitation services and handwashing facilities with soap and water, and assesses the prospects for achieving SDG target 1.4 of universal access to basic services by 2030. Section 4 examines the extent to which existing drinking water and sanitation facilities met the new SDG criteria for safely managed services in 2015. Section 5 examines inequalities in WASH services in light of the SDG call to reduce inequalities within and between countries and to "leave no one behind". Section 6 considers the implications of monitoring SDG targets for universal access, which means looking beyond the household and addressing WASH in institutional settings and public spaces.

National, regional and global estimates of drinking water, sanitation and hygiene are included in annexes.