Where freshwater withdrawals put more pressure on East Africa

Kenya and Ethiopia were close on the stress measure

Kenya stood at 33.24% in 2022 and Ethiopia at 32.26%. The denominator deducts the water required to support freshwater ecosystems from renewable resources. Uganda stood at 5.83% and South Sudan at 4.23% in the same series. Source 1 Source 4

Agriculture’s share describes the users of the water withdrawn

Agriculture represented 91.84% of Ethiopia’s withdrawals and 80.21% of Kenya’s. In Uganda the share was 40.66%. These percentages split each country’s withdrawals by use. They do not show how many cubic metres farms withdrew or how much water was available. Source 2 Source 4

Water generated within borders uses a separate accounting measure

Somalia had 337 cubic metres of internal renewable freshwater per person in 2022, while Kenya had about 382 and South Sudan had 2,359. This series counts internal river flows and groundwater generated from rainfall and divides by population. It does not include incoming flows as internal resources. Source 3 Source 5

Country averages can conceal local shortages

The estimates are annual national figures. Water pressure can vary by basin and season, and an annual record can repeat when the input series does. The points locate reference cities only. Neither the map nor the table measures tap access or water quality. Source 1 Source 4 Source 6

Correction, 11 November 2026

Somalia’s agricultural share of withdrawals is 99.48% when rounded to two decimals. An earlier version of the introduction gave 99.49%. Source 2