Some 4 billion people, nearly two-thirds of the world's population of 7.125 billion, face severe freshwater scarcity, according to a new study published Friday in the journal Science Advances.
About 1 billion of the 4 billion affected live in India, while 0.9 billion live in China. Those nations, not surprisingly, have the largest populations in the world. China has 1.32 billion residents and India has 1.13 billion.
Other regions, including in the forested areas of South America, Central Africa, Malaysia-Indonesia, appear to be less susceptible to water scarcity. "Other places with low water scarcity throughout the year can be found in the eastern half of the United States, in large parts of Europe, and in parts of South China," the study authors write in their paper.
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The United Nations website states, "Water scarcity is both a natural and a human-made phenomenon. There is enough freshwater on the planet for seven billion people but it is distributed unevenly and too much of it is wasted, polluted and unsustainably managed."
Clean drinking water is a luxury that is often taken for granted.
It's unfortunate that companies take advantage of available freshwater, bottle it, and mark it up 10,000% to make a fortune off of those who cannot readily access it.
That number is way too high for me to believe it, Idk
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At least two-thirds of the global population, over 4 billion people, live with severe water scarcity for at least one month every year, according to a major new analysis. The new research also reveals that 500m people live in places where water consumption is double the amount replenished by rain for the entire year.
