7.3 Changes during the 1990s

During the 1990s coverage with both water supply and sanitation increased in Asia (Figures 7.1 and 7.2). It should be remembered that the figures for China and India strongly influence the total figures for Asia, and apart from urban water supply, each of the services has increased in these two countries. However, excluding India and China from the regional figures does not greatly change the picture: the increases in both rural and total water supply and sanitation coverage between 1990 and 2000 look very similar. The main difference when the data for China and India are excluded is that sanitation coverage for the remainder of the region becomes higher, higher in fact than that of Africa.

Figure 7.1 Asia: water supply coverage, 1990 and 2000

Figure 7.2 Asia: sanitation coverage, 1990 and 2000