Africa: Water Supply High On Africans' Policy Agenda Amid Persistent Access and Service Gaps

21 March 2026
Afrobarometer (Accra)
By Stephen Ndoma, Shannon Van Wyk-Khosa and Edward Chibwili

Majority of citizens say they suffered shortage of clean water during the past year.

Key findings

  • On average across 38 countries, water supply ranks third among the most important problems that Africans want their government to address, trailing unemployment and health and tied with education, the increasing cost of living, and infrastructure/roads.
  • Water outranks all other problems in Guinea, Chad, Benin, and Mozambique.
  • Water supply is of particular concern among rural residents and the poor, who suffer major disadvantages on all indicators of access to clean water and sanitation.
  • More than half (57%) of Africans say their household experienced a shortage of clean water during the previous year, including 25% who say this happened "many times" or "always."
  • Among enumeration areas (EAs) visited by Afrobarometer field teams, 52% have a piped water system that most households can access. But that's true for fewer than one-fourth of EAs in Angola (24%), Guinea (23%), Nigeria (16%), Sierra Leone (15%) and Liberia (9%).
  • About half (49%) of Africans say their main source of water for household use is a piped public or community water system, while 20% rely on a borehole or tubewell, 18% on dug wells, and 5% on surface water.
  • One in four respondents (25%) have their main water source inside their home, 22% outside the home but inside the compound, and nearly half (48%) outside the compound.
  • Changing weather patterns have forced one-third (34%) of Africans to reduce their water consumption or change their water sources during the past five years.
  • A quarter (25%) of surveyed EAs have sewage systems, ranging from just 2% in Mauritania and The Gambia to 82% in Morocco.
  • One-third (34%) of respondents have a toilet in the home, while another 38% have facilities outside their dwelling but within their compound. One in five (20%) rely on toilets or latrines outside their compound, and 8% say they have no access to toilets or latrines.
  • Only 39% of citizens give their government passing marks on its provision of water and sanitation services.

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The African Union (2026a) has declared 2026 the "Year of Water Sustainability," rallying political will to overcome a major barrier to the continent's development: reliable access to safe water and sanitation. More than 400 million Africans still lack access to safe drinking water, and more than 700 million live without basic sanitation, with awful consequences for their health and well-being (African Union Economic, Social & Cultural Council, 2026; Bread and Water for Africa, 2025; World Bank, 2026). Rapid population growth, inadequate and aging infrastructure, weak governance frameworks, and a lack of funding continue to slow progress toward ensuring these services for all by 2030, in spite of governments' commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well as the African Union's Agenda 2063 (Odey, 2025; Saad, Kayanja, & Ssevume, 2024; Armah-Attoh, 2022; African Union, 2026a, b). These challenges are compounded by climate change, which has altered rainfall patterns, intensified droughts, and placed additional strain on an already fragile system (Okesanya et al., 2024).

Both political leaders and development partners are responding to the urgency of the issue. In February, the African Union (2026a, b) for the first time made water and sanitation the central theme of its annual summit. Its 2026 theme, "Assuring sustainable water availability and safe sanitation systems to achieve the goals of Agenda 2063," is backed by an Africa Water Vision 2063 and Policy framework that aims to speed up infrastructure investment, strengthen climate resilience, and enable the continent to speak with a unified voice on global platforms such as the 2026 United Nations Water Conference in December (Voice of Africa, 2026). The World Bank (2026) has approved $1.58 billion to aid increased access to climate-resilient water supply, sanitation, and hygiene services across 12 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa.

While these commitments signal an evident recognition of the central role that water security plays in achieving sustainable development, implementation gaps remain stark, as documented in Afrobarometer's most recent round of surveys.

Across 38 African countries, water supply ranks as the third-most-important problem that citizens want their government to address. One in four citizens report frequent shortages of clean water, and only a minority have access to sewage systems. These challenges are especially acute in rural areas and among poor populations. Most Africans are dissatisfied with their government's performance on the provision of safe drinking water and sanitation.

Stephen Ndoma Stephen is the assistant project manager for Southern Africa

Shannon van Wyk-Khosa Shannon is the digital portfolio manager at Afrobarometer

Edward Chibwili Edward Chibwili is the national investigator for Zambia.

Read the original article on Afrobarometer.

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