UN Warns of Humanity Entering Era of Global Water Bankruptcy
Half of the planet’s major lakes have been losing water since the 1990s, despite directly supporting a quarter of the global population. Over the last five decades, nearly 410 million hectares of natural wetlands—an area nearly the size of the European Union—have disappeared.
Groundwater forms half of domestic water supplies worldwide, while more than 40% of irrigation relies on aquifers that are being steadily depleted, with 70% of major aquifers showing long-term declines.
Currently, about 4 billion people face severe water scarcity for at least one month each year, and roughly 75% of the global population resides in countries considered “water-insecure” or “critically water-insecure.” Approximately 2.2 billion people lack access to safely managed drinking water, and 3.5 billion are without safely managed sanitation services.
Between 2022 and 2023, 1.8 billion people were affected by drought conditions. The economic impact of ecosystem losses due to wetland depletion is estimated at $5.1 trillion annually, while droughts alone cost the global economy around $307 billion per year.
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