Progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene in schools 2015–2025

September 2026

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Brief summary

The report presents updated national, regional and global estimates for WASH in schools for the period 2015 to 2025 and includes a section on monitoring advanced WASH services in schools.

Report highlights

This update assesses progress on WASH in schools between 2015 and 2025, which represents the first decade of the SDG period. It shows that, with just five years remaining, the world is not on track to achieve universal access (>99%) to basic WASH services in schools by 2030. Achieving the SDG target of universal coverage will require a fourfold increase in the current rate of progress on basic drinking water, a fivefold increase in progress on basic sanitation, and a fourfold increase in progress on basic hygiene. Based on current trajectories, around 84% of schools will have basic water services, 81% will have basic sanitation services and only 79% will have basic hygiene services in 2030.

The report includes examples of national data on additional indicators that could potentially be used for advanced monitoring of WASH in schools post-2030.

Explore the data on the interactive portal, and download Excel files showing regional snapshots.

Progress and acceleration required for universal access by 2030
Middle-income countries have progressed fastest since 2015
Drinking water in schools in 2025

• A total of 142 countries and all SDG regions had estimates for basic drinking water services in schools.
• Globally, 78% of schools had basic drinking water services, 9% had limited services, and 13% had no service.
• There was no basic drinking water service at school for 429 million school-age children, including 258 million whose school still had no water service at all.
• Achieving universal access (>99%) to basic drinking water services in schools by 2030 would require a fourfold increase in the current rate of progress.
Regional coverage of drinking water in schools 2025
Sanitation in schools in 2025

• A total of 146 countries and all SDG regions had estimates for basic sanitation services in schools.
• Globally, 77% of schools had basic sanitation services, 11% had limited services, and 12% had no service.
• There was no basic sanitation service at school for 460 million school-age children, including 244 million whose school still had no sanitation service at all.
• Achieving universal access to basic sanitation services in schools by 2030 would require a fivefold increase in the current rate of progress.
Annual rates of change in basic sanitation in schools 2015-2025
Hygiene in schools in 2025

• A total of 136 countries and all SDG regions had estimates for basic hygiene services in schools.
• Globally, 72% of schools had basic hygiene services, 9% had limited services, and 18% had no service.
• There was no basic hygiene service at school for 545 million school-age children, including 362 million whose school still had no hygiene service at all.
• Achieving universal access to basic hygiene services in schools by 2030 would require a fivefold increase in the current rate of progress.
Many countries have reduced the proportion of schools with no hygiene service since 2015
Monitoring advanced WASH in schools beyond 2030