Population with house connections to piped water

Data source - WHO/UNICEF JMP (1).

Description of data
Data on the total population with access to improved water sources and safe drinking-water are collected via questionnaire by WHO/UNICEF country representatives as part of the JMP.

JMP data are derived from the following datasets:

population with access to improved, piped water supply – total;
population with access to improved, piped water supply in urban areas; and
population with access to improved, piped water supply in rural areas.
Improved water source is defined as “water that is piped on the premises: piped household water connection located inside the user’s dwelling, plot or yard”. For additional information, please refer to the “Water ladder” definitions on the JMP web site: http://www.wssinfo.org/definitions-methods/watsan-ladder/.

Method of calculating the indicator
The indicator was computed as: population with access to improved piped water/total population × 100.

Geographical coverage
The JMP database includes data for 53 Member States of the WHO European Region.

Data quality
The JMP data set only includes data on the general population. There is no specific data on the population of children. Access to safe water is important for preventing waterborne diseases and infections associated with poor hygiene. However, this indicator does not necessarily reflect the safety of drinking water because it does not include data on the microbiological content of water supplies.

The available JMP data are useful in a policy context to identify areas where there is a need to focus on improving the access to improved water supplies. More work is needed to create a system of standardized reporting to enable the estimation of water-related health risks for vulnerable populations, namely children who are exposed to unimproved water supplies and their associated health risks in schools and kindergartens.