Global water demand is projected to rise by 55 per cent between 2000 and 2050, the Global Water Forum has cited, while nearly 1 billion people in developing regions still have no access to clean, safe water. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in its report stated that by 2050 the number of people living in river basins that are under water threat is predicted to reach 3.9 million.Some 650 million people are still without an 'improved' source of water and 2.4 billion do not have a basic, hygienic toilet, a joint monitoring program report by Unicef and WHO has revealed. The regular update is the last under the Millennium Development Goals, a set of UN ambitions that set out in 2000 to halve the proportion of people without access to water and sanitation, among other goals. As these goals expire this year, the goal on water has been met overall, but with wide gaps remaining, particularly in the Pacific and Sub-Saharan Africa. The goal on sanitation, however, has failed, particularly in the Pacific and sub-Saharan Africa. At present rates of progress it would take 300 years for everyone in sub-Saharan Africa to get access to a sanitary toilet.
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