25% of world population faces extreme water stress every year, report says

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – A new report shows that 25 countries, home to 25% of the world’s population, face extremely high water stress every year, using up almost their entire annual supply of water. Titled the Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas, the report was prepared by the World Resources Institute (WRI).

According to the WRI report, the global demand for water is exceeding what is available; around 4 billion people face water-stressed conditions for at least one month a year.

The five most water-stressed countries are Bahrain, Cyprus, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman and Qatar, the report says. The most water-stressed regions are the Middle East and North Africa, where 83% of the population are vulnerable to extremely high water stress, and South Asia, where 74% are vulnerable to it.

The demand for water has doubled since 1960, the WRI report says. WRI contends that investment in water infrastructure and better water governance are necessary to prevent the situation from worsening, especially in areas with fast-growing economies and populations. “Increased water demand is often the result of growing populations and industries like irrigated agriculture, livestock, energy production and manufacturing,” WRI said in its report.

“Meanwhile, lack of investment in water infrastructure, unsustainable water use policies or increased variability due to climate change can all affect the available water supply,” WRI attests. “The smaller the gap between supply and demand, the more vulnerable a place is to water shortages.”

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