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FACTS ABOUT WATER AND POPULATION Rapid growth of the world’s population has been one of the most visible and dramatic changes to the world over the last 100 years. Population growth has huge implications for all aspects of resource use, including water. Although water is a renewable resource, it is only renewable within limits; the extent to which increasing demands can be met is finite. Worldwide, per capita water supplies decreased by a third between 1970 and 1990, and there is little doubt that population growth has been and will continue to be one of the main drivers of changes to patterns of water resource use. Although there are differences of opinion, most projections expect this slowdown of demographic growth rates to continue and for the world’s population to stabilize at about 9.3 billion people (still over 50% higher than the 2001 population of 6.1 billion) somewhere in the middle of the 21 century. The global overview of water availability versus population stresses continental disparities, and in particular the pressure put on the Asian continent, which supports 60% of the world’s population with only 36% of the world’s water resources. Europe has 13% of the world’s population and 8% of the world’s water resources; Africa has 13% of the world’s population and 11% of the world’s water resources; North and Central America has 8% of the population and 15% of the water; Oceania has less than 1% of the world’s population but 5% of the world’s water resources; and South America has 6% of the world’s population yet 26% of the world’s water resources. Freshwater is distributed unevenly, with nearly 500 million people suffering from water stress or serious water scarcity. A number of scenarios have been developed based on the most recent UN population projections. Based on these projections, the future for many parts of the world looks bleak. The most alarming projection suggests that nearly 7 billion people in 60 countries will suffer from water scarcity by 2050. Even according to conservative projections, just under 2 billion people in 48 countries will struggle against water scarcity in 2050. Between now and 2025, it is expected that the world will need 17% more water to grow food for the increasing populations in developing countries and that total water use will increase by some 40%. Sub-Saharan Africa has the lowest level of access to safe water coverage of any region, with only 60% of the population served.
Information from: Source: UNESCO Water Portal, July 2005
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