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50 Million Indian Children Lack School Sanitation: WHO-UNICEF Report Reveals Global Crisis
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CNBC TV18•28-09-2026, 16:54
50 Million Indian Children Lack School Sanitation: WHO-UNICEF Report Reveals Global Crisis
- •A WHO-UNICEF report highlights that 50 million Indian children lack sanitation services in schools, representing nearly a fifth of the global total of 244 million children without such access.
- •India accounts for the highest number of children without school sanitation services globally, with Nigeria (34 million), Ethiopia (26 million), Democratic Republic of Congo (11 million), and Indonesia (8 million) also facing significant challenges.
- •Despite the high numbers, India recorded a 14% reduction in schools lacking sanitation services between 2015 and 2025, as per the "Progress on Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in Schools 2015-2025" report.
- •The report also notes that around 20 million Indian children lack hygiene services in schools, though data limitations prevented comprehensive hygiene coverage estimates for India beyond 2024.
- •India shows better progress in school drinking water access, with only 12 million children lacking services, and is on track to achieve universal basic drinking water coverage in schools by 2030, with over 4% annual increase.
Key Questions Answered
In 2025, 50 million Indian children lacked sanitation services in schools, accounting for nearly a fifth of all children globally without access.
India recorded a 14% reduction in the number of schools with no sanitation service during the assessed period. Furthermore, India performed better on drinking-water access, with coverage increasing by over 4% annually, placing it on track to achieve universal basic drinking-water coverage by 2030.
Around 20 million Indian children had no hygiene service at schools. However, insufficient recent data prevented the JMP from generating hygiene coverage estimates for India beyond 2024.
