The theme for World Water Day 2019 is ‘Leaving no one behind’.

Today, billions of people are still living without safe water – their households, schools, workplaces, farms and factories struggling to survive and thrive. Marginalized groups – women, children, refugees, indigenous peoples, disabled people and many others – are often overlooked, and sometimes face discrimination, as they try to access and manage the safe water they need.

The human right to water entitles everyone, without discrimination, to sufficient, safe, acceptable, physically accessible and affordable water for personal and domestic use; which includes water for drinking, personal sanitation, washing of clothes, food preparation, and personal and household hygiene.

Here are some facts to share this World Water Day: 

• 2.1 billion people live without safe water at home
• One in four primary schools have no drinking water service, with pupils using unprotected sources or going thirsty
• More than 700 children under five years of age die every day from diarrhoea linked to unsafe water and poor sanitation
• Globally, 80% of the people who have to use unsafe and unprotected water sources live in rural areas
• Women and girls are responsible for water collection in eight out of ten households with water off-premises
• Around 4 billion people - nearly two-thirds of the world’s population - experience severe water scarcity during at least one month of the year

To download your full World Water Day fact sheet, click here.