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       ISLAMABAD: A new report jointly released by Unicef and WHO to mark the World Water Week, highlights persistent inequalities, with vulnerable communities left behind, and reveals that one in four people in 2024, or 2.1 billion people globally, still lack access to safely managed drinking water, including 106 million who drink directly from untreated surface sources.

       While some progress has been made, major gaps persist, with people living in low-income countries, fragile contexts, rural communities, children and minority ethnic and indigenous groups face the greatest disparities, according to the report, “Progress on Household Drinking Water and Sanitation 2000-24”, published on Tuesday.

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       The report, with special focus on inequalities, says in 2024, 1.4 billion people lacked basic services, 287 million with limited services, and 302 million with unimproved services.

       Since 2015, 961 million people have gained access to safely managed drinking water services. Coverage has increased from 68pc to 74pc. The number of people using surface water for drinking has decreased by 61 million, according to the report. In Pakistan, the least basic drinking water coverage in urban areas declined from 94pc to 93pc.

       The number of people still lacking even a basic sanitation service decreased from 2.7bn to 1.5bn. In urban areas, 1.7 billion people gained safely managed services, with coverage increasing from under half of the population (48pc) to two thirds (66pc).

       Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2025