People practicing open defecation, urban (% of urban population) in East Asia & Pacific
East Asia & Pacific: People practicing open defecation, urban (% of urban population) was 0.2% in 2024. ▼ Falling
People practicing open defecation, urban in East Asia & Pacific, 2000–2024
Source: WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene, World Health Organization (WHO). Measured in % of urban population.
Analysis
East Asia & Pacific recorded 0.2% for people practicing open defecation, urban in 2024. That is the lowest value across all 25 years on record.
That represents a change of down 22.9% on the previous year and down 80.9% over ten years.
Over the whole period, people practicing open defecation, urban in East Asia & Pacific peaked at 2.6% in 2000 and was at its lowest, 0.2%, in 2024.
That places East Asia & Pacific 26th out of 47 groups with data for 2024, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 25 years of available data.
People practicing open defecation, urban (% of urban population) in East Asia & Pacific, year by year
| Year | % of urban population | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 2.6% | — |
| 2001 | 2.5% | -3.7% |
| 2002 | 2.3% | -6.1% |
| 2003 | 2.2% | -4.5% |
| 2004 | 2.1% | -4.4% |
| 2005 | 2.0% | -4.6% |
| 2006 | 1.9% | -4.9% |
| 2007 | 1.8% | -5.3% |
| 2008 | 1.7% | -4.9% |
| 2009 | 1.6% | -5.4% |
| 2010 | 1.5% | -5.0% |
| 2011 | 1.4% | -7.3% |
| 2012 | 1.3% | -6.1% |
| 2013 | 1.3% | -6.5% |
| 2014 | 1.2% | -6.9% |
| 2015 | 1.1% | -7.7% |
| 2016 | 1.0% | -8.3% |
| 2017 | 0.9% | -9.0% |
| 2018 | 0.8% | -9.9% |
| 2019 | 0.7% | -11.0% |
| 2020 | 0.6% | -12.1% |
| 2021 | 0.6% | -13.0% |
| 2022 | 0.5% | -13.9% |
| 2023 | 0.3% | -39.0% |
| 2024 | 0.2% | -22.9% |
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where People practicing open defecation, urban (% of urban population) in East Asia & Pacific changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.
| Year | Change | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | -39.0% | 0.5% | 0.3% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 2.1% | 1.6% | 2.6% | 10 |
| 2010s | 1.1% | 0.7% | 1.5% | 10 |
| 2020s | 0.4% | 0.2% | 0.6% | 5 |
Countries ranked near East Asia & Pacific
- 23 Lesotho 3.7% compare
- 24 Marshall Islands 3.7% compare
- 25 Sierra Leone 3.7% compare
- 26 Sudan 3.0% compare
- 27 Djibouti 2.7% compare
- 28 Ethiopia 2.7% compare
- 29 Equatorial Guinea 2.5% compare
More health data for East Asia & Pacific
- Population ages 30-34, male, per capita 0.037 units per person (2025)
- Population ages 40-44, female, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Population ages 40-44, female, annual growth rate 1.4 % change on previous year (2025)
- Population ages 35-39, male, per capita 0.0412 units per person (2025)
- Population ages 35-39, male, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Population ages 35-39, male, annual growth rate 2.45 % change on previous year (2025)
- Population ages 35-39, female, per capita 0.0386 units per person (2025)
- Population ages 35-39, female, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Population ages 35-39, female, annual growth rate 1.98 % change on previous year (2025)
- Population ages 25-29, male, per capita 0.0336 units per person (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is people practicing open defecation, urban in East Asia & Pacific?
- People practicing open defecation, urban in East Asia & Pacific was 0.2% in 2024, according to WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene, World Health Organization (WHO).
- What is the highest people practicing open defecation, urban recorded in East Asia & Pacific?
- The highest recorded value was 2.6% in 2000.
- What is the lowest people practicing open defecation, urban recorded in East Asia & Pacific?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.2% in 2024.
- How does East Asia & Pacific rank for people practicing open defecation, urban?
- East Asia & Pacific ranks 26th out of 47 groups with data for 2024.
- Is people practicing open defecation, urban rising or falling in East Asia & Pacific?
- Over the last ten years it is down 80.9%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this East Asia & Pacific data come from?
- The figures come from WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene, World Health Organization (WHO), published as part of People practicing open defecation, urban (% of urban population). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 25 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
People practicing open defecation refers to the percentage of the population defecating in the open, such as in fields, forest, bushes, open bodies of water, on beaches, in other open spaces or disposed of with solid waste.