Roll of Shame

In Romania 10,600,000 people lack adequat sanitation! Similar conditions in Russia and Turkey.

21.12.2005 |Sascha Gabizon

SANITATION: roll of shame; the list also includes three European
countries – Russia, Turkey and Romania

There are 35 countries where over 10 million people have no access to hygienic toilets and 30 countries where more than two thirds of the population lack this basic facility. On the occasion of World Toilet Day (19 November) WaterAid has published a roll of shame [1] ranking the worst places in the world for sanitation provision. Ethiopia is the country where the highest percentage (94%) of the population lack adequate sanitation facilities while in absolute numbers India has the most people
(772,400,000) lacking sanitation. The list also includes three European countries – Russia, Turkey and Romania – where more than 10 million people lack sanitation.

WaterAid’s publication is part of its campaign to urge the UK Government to put sanitation on the agenda during its EU Presidency [2]. It also planned to set out toilet seat 'headstones' marked 'RIP' in London's Parliament Square on World Toilet Day. However, permission to do so was denied as the image it would create was deemed to be "inappropriate".

World Toilet Day is an initiative of the World Toilet Organization, which was established in 2001 in Singapore.

[1] WaterAid (2005). The state of the world’s toilets 2005 : WaterAid’s
bog roll of dishonour. 6 p. PDF file [557 KB]

[2] Campaign: NGOs call on EU to spend more on water and sanitation, Source
Weekly, 6 Sep 2005

Contact: WaterAid, UK, mailto:wateraid@wateraid.org; World Toilet
Organization, Singapore, info@worldtoilet.org,

Source: WaterAid, 18 Nov 2005