Rift & Coast

East Africa

The urban and rural gaps in East Africa’s drinking water access

In 2024, 88.89% of urban Kenyans and 55.59% of rural Kenyans used at least basic drinking-water services. The urban estimate was higher in all eight East African countries in the comparison.

Sources checked

Rift & Coast Editorial Team

Drinking-water accessBasic drinking-water use across eight countries in 2024
Basic drinking-water use across eight countries in 2024
  1. Burundi65.92%
  3. Kenya65.6%
  4. Rwanda61.39%
  5. Somalia75.29%
  7. Tanzania64.61%
  8. Uganda63.01%

Natural Earth land outlines and dashed land boundaries.

Switch between national, rural and urban estimates or show the difference in percentage points.

Source 1 Source 2 Source 3 Source 4 Source 6

The cutoff includes collection time

The JMP uses an improved drinking-water source and a round trip of 30 minutes or less, including queueing, as the basic service threshold. The at-least-basic series also includes safely managed services, which meet additional requirements for location, availability and water quality. Source 4 Source 5

The national share reflects where people live

Burundi’s urban figure was 91.22% in 2024, the highest urban estimate among the eight. Its national figure was 65.92%. The national estimate reflects the country’s population mix and its rural and urban estimates. Source 1 Source 2 Source 3 Source 5

Uganda’s rural estimate rose over time

Uganda’s rural figure rose from 40.14% in 2015 to 56.60% in 2024. Its urban figure increased from 76.19% to 79.99%. The annual series uses the JMP’s fitted estimates from available survey and census observations. Source 2 Source 3 Source 5

The distance between groups differs by country

Somalia had a 16.07-point gap in 2024 between its urban and rural estimates. Ethiopia’s gap was 36.53 points. The gap describes the difference in household service use. The rural and urban shares beside it show where each country starts. Source 2 Source 3

Sources

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