Level of water stress: freshwater withdrawal as a proportion of available freshwater resources by country

What this measures

The level of water stress: freshwater withdrawal as a proportion of available freshwater resources is the ratio between total freshwater withdrawn by all major sectors and total renewable freshwater resources, after taking into account environmental water requirements. Main sectors, as defined by ISIC standards, include agriculture; forestry and fishing; manufacturing; electricity industry; and services. This indicator is also known as water withdrawal intensity.

Limitations: Water withdrawal as a percentage of water resources is a good indicator of pressure on limited water resources, one of the most important natural resources. However, it only partially addresses the issues related to sustainable water management. Supplementary indicators that capture the multiple dimensions of water management would combine data on water demand management, behavioural changes with regard to water use and the availability of appropriate infrastructure, and measure progress in increasing the efficiency and sustainability of water use, in particular in relation to population and economic growth.

Each country's latest available year is shown; countries report on different schedules, so compare years before comparing values.

Ranking

More environment indicators

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• Fertilizer consumption (kilograms per hectare of arable land)
• Agricultural land (sq. km)
• Agricultural land (% of land area)
• Arable land (hectares)
• Arable land (hectares per person)
• Arable land (% of land area)
• Land under cereal production (hectares)
• Permanent cropland (% of land area)
• Forest area (sq. km)
• Forest area (% of land area)
• Agricultural irrigated land (% of total agricultural land)

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Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, ER.H2O.FWST.ZS, CC BY 4.0. Original source: AQUASTAT - FAO's Global Information System on Water and Agriculture, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), uri: https://data.apps.fao.org/aquastat/, publisher: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), date accessed: 20240529 View on data.worldbank.org; the full definition is in the World Bank's metadata glossary.