Africa Eastern and Southern: People with basic handwashing facilities including soap and water, urban (% of urban population)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2024, Africa Eastern and Southern's people with basic handwashing facilities including soap and water, urban (% of urban population) rose 0.7 percentage points on 2023 (from 33.62% to 34.32%).

Across the 10 yearly changes before that (2014 to 2023), the average change was −0.25 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 1.33 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.7 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 1.69 percentage points in 2023 and the biggest yearly fall was 3.13 percentage points in 2021. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2015 to 2024 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains 18% of the movement over 10 observed years, so the value is moving around more than it is heading anywhere.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

What this measures

The percentage of people living in households that have a handwashing facility with soap and water available on the premises. Handwashing facilities may be fixed or mobile and include a sink with tap water, buckets with taps, tippy-taps, and jugs or basins designated for handwashing. Soap includes bar soap, liquid soap, powder detergent, and soapy water but does not include ash, soil, sand or other handwashing agents.

Limitations: Generally, data on handwashing facilities are limited in high-income countries due to the infrequent collection of such information. In the early 2000s, even low- and middle-income countries often lacked this data. However, the recent standardization of hygiene-related questions in international surveys has led to an improvement in the availability of data.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.

All 12 values

People with basic handwashing facilities including soap and water, urban (% of urban population) in nearby economies

• Afghanistan — 60.12% (2024)
• Algeria — 88% (2024)
• Egypt, Arab Rep. — 89.8% (2024)
• Iraq — 97.6% (2024)
• Pakistan — 92.09% (2024)
• Syrian Arab Republic — 87.33% (2024)
• Tunisia — 94.52% (2024)

More health data for Africa Eastern and Southern

• Population ages 00-04, female (% of female population) — 14.54% (2025)
• Population ages 00-04, male (% of male population) — 15.16% (2025)
• Population ages 0-14, female — 156.48 million (2025)
• Population ages 0-14, female (% of female population) — 39.29% (2025)
• Population ages 0-14, male — 159.3 million (2025)
• Population ages 0-14, male (% of male population) — 40.79% (2025)
• Population ages 0-14, total — 315.77 million (2025)
• Population ages 0-14 (% of total population) — 40.03% (2025)

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Questions people ask

What is Africa Eastern and Southern's people with basic handwashing facilities including soap and water, urban (% of urban population)?

34.32% in 2024, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 2013?

It is down 1.82 percentage points from 36.13% in 2013. The highest value was 36.13% in 2013 and the lowest 31.59% in 2021.

Is the latest change in people with basic handwashing facilities including soap and water, urban (% of urban population) unusual for Africa Eastern and Southern?

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator SH.STA.HYGN.UR.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene, World Health Organization (WHO), uri: washdata.org, publisher: WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (washdata.org), date accessed: 2025-09-30, date published: 2025-08… Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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