One out of every eight people in the world, roughly 884 million, lacks access to safe water. (WHO/UNICEF)

At least 2.6 billion people, about 41 percent of the global population, do not have access to latrines or any sort of basic sanitation facilities. (UN WATER)

1.8 million children die every year as a result of diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation. This amounts to around 5000 deaths a day, one every 20 seconds. (UNDP)

According to a recent World Health Organization (WHO) study, every dollar spent on improving sanitation generates an average economic benefit of $7.

Water-related diseases caused by unsafe drinking water and inadequate sanitation remain humanity’s most serious public health threat, causing 90% of the sicknesses in developing countries. (WHO)

Providing water and hygiene education reduces the number of deaths caused by diarrhoeal diseases by an average of 65%. (WHO)

443 million school days are lost each year due to water-related diseases. (UNDP)

Worldwide, 18 percent of the population, or 1.2 billion people, rely on open defecation. (Unicef)

Every year, more than 200 million tons of human sewage goes uncollected and untreated, fouling the environment. Each gram of feces can contain 10 million virus particles, 1 million bacteria, 1,000 parasite cysts and 100 parasite eggs. (UN)

At any given time, half the population of the developing world is suffering from one or more of the main diseases associated with inadequate provision of water and sanitation. (UNDP)

The average North American uses more than 100 gallons of water each day, but the average person in the developing world uses less than three. (UNDP/WSSCC)