World Health Organization

United Nations Human Settlements Programme

This report presents the global status on wastewater treatment and acceleration needs to achieve target 6.3 by 2030, based on the latest data on indicator 6.3.1 (total wastewater flows as well as flows from industrial sources and households). Over the 107 countries reporting some wastewater statistics for 2022 (representing 73 per cent of the world’s population) in the present report, the proportion of total wastewater receiving some level of treatment (76 per cent) could only be calculated for 73 countries (representing 42 per cent of the global population); whereas the proportion of total wastewater “safely” (i.e. at least secondary treatment) treated (60 per cent) could only be calculated for 42 countries (representing 12 per cent of the population). These data are insufficient to establish global statistics. Reporting on industrial wastewater treatment remains limited, with data only reported from 22 countries representing 8 per cent of the global population. In these countries, only 38 per cent of industrial wastewater was reported as treated, and only 27 per cent was safely treated. Globally, in 2022 42% of household (domestic) wastewater was not safely treated before discharge, leading to an estimated 113 billion m3 of household wastewater being released to the environment with inadequate or no treatment. Much of the fraction of household wastewater that was not safely treated was attributable to households lacking adequate blackwater and greywater collection systems, such as sewer connections or septic tanks (45 per cent).

Progress on the proportion of domestic and industrial wastewater flows safely treated – Mid-term status of SDG Indicator 6.3.1 and acceleration needs, with a special focus on climate change, wastewater reuse and health

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