Of the world’s seven billion people, six billion have cell phones. Only 4.5 billion have access to toilets or latrines

"More cell phones than toilets" (in India) has made attention grabbing headlines before, but it's still a huge problem, according to a recent report from the UN.

United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson today launched a call for urgent action to end the crisis of 2.5 billion people without basic sanitation, and to change a situation in which more people worldwide have mobile phones than toilets.

The call to action, which comes on the eve of World Water Day (March 22), aims to focus on improving hygiene, changing social norms, better managing human waste and waste-water, and, by 2025, completely eliminating the practice of open defecation, which perpetuates the vicious cycle of disease and entrenched poverty

Of the world’s seven billion people, six billion have mobile phones. However, only 4.5 billion have access to toilets or latrines – meaning that 2.5 billion people, mostly in rural areas, do not have proper sanitation. In addition, 1.1 billion people still defecate in the open..

Read full article from UN News Center.

emily | 8:42 AM | Random Stats / Infographics |
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