Health & Population
People practicing open defecation (% of population)
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.
World Bank code: SH.STA.ODFC.ZS • Data available for 214 countries • Latest year: 2024
In , Niger led People practicing open defecation (% of population) at 65.98.
The world median across 184 reporting countries was 0.05.
How "Health & Population" indicators are measured
Health and population indicators come from national vital-registration systems, demographic and health surveys, and modeling by the UN Population Division and WHO. Mortality and morbidity estimates are often modeled rather than directly observed in lower-capacity statistical systems, which means some figures are interpolations between survey years. Life expectancy is a "period" measure based on current age-specific mortality, not a forecast of how long someone born today will actually live.
Distribution — 2024
- Reporting
- 184 countries
- Median
- 0.05
- Mean
- 4.94
- 25th percentile
- 0.00
- 75th percentile
- 3.53
- Range
- 0.00 – 65.98
World at a Glance — 2024
Every reporting country, grouped by region, shaded by value (quintile).
Lighter = lower value · Darker = higher value. Hover a cell to see the country and value.
Highest Values — 2024
| # | Country | People practicing open defecation (% of population) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Niger Sub-Saharan Africa | 65.98 |
| 2 | South Sudan Sub-Saharan Africa | 62.80 |
| 3 | Chad Sub-Saharan Africa | 62.22 |
| 4 | Benin Sub-Saharan Africa | 47.04 |
| 5 | Solomon Islands East Asia & Pacific | 45.34 |
| 6 | Namibia Sub-Saharan Africa | 34.68 |
| 7 | Liberia Sub-Saharan Africa | 33.92 |
| 8 | Sao Tome and Principe Sub-Saharan Africa | 33.35 |
| 9 | Kiribati East Asia & Pacific | 32.36 |
| 10 | Togo Sub-Saharan Africa | 32.19 |
Looking for a specific country? Only the top and bottom 10 appear here. See where every country ranks for People practicing open defecation (% of population).
View complete rankings →Biggest Movers — Year over Year
Largest increases
- Trinidad and Tobago +7.5%
- Vanuatu +4.6%
- Mauritius +3.1%
- Comoros +2.7%
- Samoa +2.6%
Largest decreases
- Nepal -82.4%
- Morocco -42.3%
- Cambodia -35.9%
- Cabo Verde -34.4%
- Zambia -32.1%
By Income Group — Average
| Income group | Countries | Mean |
|---|---|---|
| High income | 75 | 0.07 |
| Upper middle income | 43 | 0.91 |
| Lower middle income | 43 | 9.27 |
| Low income | 22 | 20.40 |
| Not classified | 1 | 16.23 |
By Region — Average
| Region | Countries | Mean |
|---|---|---|
| East Asia & Pacific | 32 | 4.55 |
| Europe & Central Asia | 51 | 0.01 |
| Latin America & Caribbean | 28 | 0.96 |
| Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan | 20 | 1.28 |
| North America | 3 | 0.00 |
| South Asia | 6 | 1.21 |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 44 | 15.98 |
Lowest Values — 2024
| # | Country | People practicing open defecation (% of population) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gibraltar | 0.00 |
| 2 | Germany | 0.00 |
| 3 | French Polynesia | 0.00 |
| 4 | Netherlands | 0.00 |
| 5 | New Caledonia | 0.00 |
| 6 | New Zealand | 0.00 |
| 7 | France | 0.00 |
| 8 | Finland | 0.00 |
| 9 | Fiji | 0.00 |
| 10 | Norway | 0.00 |
Source: World Bank Open Data (SH.STA.ODFC.ZS), CC BY 4.0. Rankings show countries with available data for 2024.