The Era of Water Shortages

Hydrologists consider a country to be under water stress when its annual water supplies drop to between 1,000 and 1,700 cubic meters per person. In turn, countries face water scarcity when their annual water supplies drop below 1,000 cubic meters per person. Once a country enters the water-scarce category, it faces severe constraints on food production, economic development, and protection of natural ecosystems.

More and more countries are facing water stress and scarcity as their populations grow, urbanization accelerates, and water consumption increases. Thirty-one countries (with a combined population of close to half a billion) faced water stress or scarcity as of 1995. The number of people estimated to live in water-short countries increased by nearly 125 million between 1990 and 1995.

By 2025, 50 countries and more than 3.3 billion people will face water stress or scarcity. By 2050, the number of countries afflicted with water stress or scarcity will rise to 54, and their populations to 4 billion people—40 percent of the projected global population of 9.4 billion. The majority of these countries—40 of them—are in the Near East, North Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa (Gardner-Outlaw & Engelman, 1997; UNFPA, 1997).