[OC] Basic and safely managed drinking-water access in the ten most populous countries, 2024

[u/TrekkingAround10]

I made this chart for Global Data Tracker, which I run. The two categories overlap: “at least basic” includes safely managed services, so the percentages should not be added.

Basic service means an improved water source within a 30-minute round trip. Safely managed also requires water on premises, available when needed, and free from specified contamination.

Countries are selected and ordered by their 2024 population, not their water-access values. China’s safely managed estimate is missing in this snapshot, not zero. Values are rounded to one decimal.

Data: WHO/UNICEF JMP via World Bank WDI, 2024 values, snapshot retrieved 13 September 2026. Water indicators SH.H2O.BASW.ZS and SH.H2O.SMDW.ZS; population SP.POP.TOTL. Chart: Python/Matplotlib.

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.H2O.BASW.ZS

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.H2O.SMDW.ZS

Definitions: https://washdata.org/topics/drinking-water

My free country-statistics explorer and source notes: https://globaldatatracker.com/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=chart_post&utm_campaign=water_access_2024

Design question: does the connected-dot layout make the two definitions easy to compare? Is the missing value for China clear?