India stinks, but China is the worst

Only 47% of the population has sanitation facilities

NEW DELHI: With less than half its population covered by sanitation facilities, India is the second worst in the world in this regard, next only to China, according to WaterAid India, an international organisation working on water, sanitation and hygiene.

According to a Unicef report, only 30% of the Indian population had access to proper sanitation though recent government figures say it's increased to nearly 47%.

Despite significant investments over the last 20 years, India still faces the most daunting sanitation challenge among  countries in South Asia. It lags behind other South Asian countries like Bangladesh (4th ) and Pakistan (7th), said Depinder S Kapur of WaterAid India.

The booming population of towns coupled with poor drainage facilities make urban sanitation India's biggest challenge today. WaterAid says sanitation plays a vital role in reducing poverty. There is compelling evidence to show that sanitation brings the single greatest return on investment as compared to any development intervention (up to $9 for every $1 spent), it said.

The costs of not investing enough in sanitation are huge. In India, 15 lakh children lose their lives to diarrhoea every year; over 3 crore people are affected by waterborne diseases every year leading to a loss of more than 7 crore working days annually. In the developing world, infant deaths, lost work days, and missed school are estimated to have an economic cost of around $38 billion  year, with sanitation accounting for 92% of this value.