Open defecation in India fell from 73% to 7%
Share of people practising open defecation, %, 2000–2024: India, its neighbours and the world.
- 1. India now has more working-age people than China
- 2. India's UPI now handles 86% as many payments as Visa
- 3. Indian students now outnumber Chinese students in the US
- 4. India's GitHub developers outnumber China's, Brazil's and Japan's combined
- 5. India's stock market grew 23-fold since 2000
- 6. Indian phone users now average 25 GB of data monthly
- 7. India's metro network quadrupled in a decade
- 8. India now ships over a third of world rice exports
- 9. India went from 1% to 37% of Russia's crude sales
- 10. India's wild tigers have more than doubled since 2006
- 11. Two in three rickshaws sold in India are electric
- 12. Indians now file more patents at home than Germans
- 13. India published more science papers than Germany and Britain combined
- 14. India now holds more foreign reserves than Saudi Arabia
- 15. Open defecation in India fell from 73% to 7%
Indians defecating in the open in 2024, down from 73.2% in 2000.
The year India fell below Nigeria (17.0% vs 19.0%). It drew level with Pakistan by 2023.
World share in 2024, down from 21.1% in 2000. India still sits above the world average.
the numbers & method
| Year | India (%) | Pakistan (%) | Nigeria (%) | World (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 73.2 | 29.4 | 24.3 | 21.1 |
| 2001 | 70.3 | 29.3 | 24.1 | 20.4 |
| 2002 | 67.3 | 29.3 | 23.9 | 19.8 |
| 2003 | 64.4 | 29.2 | 23.7 | 19.1 |
| 2004 | 61.5 | 28.1 | 23.4 | 18.4 |
| 2005 | 58.6 | 27.1 | 23.2 | 17.7 |
| 2006 | 55.8 | 26.1 | 22.9 | 16.9 |
| 2007 | 52.9 | 25.0 | 22.7 | 16.2 |
| 2008 | 50.1 | 24.0 | 22.4 | 15.5 |
| 2009 | 47.2 | 23.0 | 22.2 | 14.8 |
| 2010 | 44.4 | 22.0 | 21.9 | 14.0 |
| 2011 | 41.6 | 20.9 | 21.6 | 13.4 |
| 2012 | 38.8 | 19.9 | 21.4 | 12.7 |
| 2013 | 36.1 | 18.9 | 21.1 | 11.9 |
| 2014 | 33.3 | 17.9 | 20.8 | 11.2 |
| 2015 | 30.6 | 16.9 | 20.5 | 10.5 |
| 2016 | 27.8 | 15.9 | 20.2 | 9.8 |
| 2017 | 25.1 | 15.0 | 19.9 | 9.3 |
| 2018 | 22.4 | 14.0 | 19.6 | 8.5 |
| 2019 | 19.7 | 13.0 | 19.3 | 7.8 |
| 2020 | 17.0 | 12.0 | 19.0 | 7.1 |
| 2021 | 14.3 | 11.1 | 18.7 | 6.4 |
| 2022 | 11.7 | 10.1 | 18.4 | 5.7 |
| 2023 | 9.0 | 9.1 | 18.1 | 5.0 |
| 2024 | 6.7 | 8.2 | 18.0 | 4.3 |
Claim types Estimate
Series SH_SAN_DEFECT 'Proportion of population practicing open defecation, by urban/rural (%)', Location = all areas; custodian WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (2025 update). Read from the UN SDG Global Database API (release 2026.Q3.G.01) on 4 Nov 2026. Country values are JMP estimates (nature 'E'); the world is a JMP aggregate. India 2000 73.2, 2010 44.4, 2015 30.6, 2019 19.7, 2020 17.0, 2023 9.0, 2024 6.7. Nigeria 2019 19.3, 2020 19.0, 2024 18.0. Pakistan 2022 10.1, 2023 9.1, 2024 8.2. World 2000 21.05, 2024 4.34. Values shown to one decimal. Open defecation: disposal of human faeces in fields, forests, bushes, open bodies of water, beaches or other open spaces, or with solid waste (JMP definition). Licence: WHO/UNICEF terms not confirmed for commercial reuse, so this plate is not sold in licences or packs. India drops below Pakistan in 2023 by 0.09 points (9.04 vs 9.13), within the margin of modelled estimates.
Published 4 Nov 2026
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