Of the seven billion people in the world, exactly 2.3 billion do not have access to a basic toilet, a report from the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF said.
According to the joint report released Tuesday by the UN organizations, the numbers may have shown an improvement from last year's data, but there is still a huge population that lacks sanitation facilities.
Moreover, the report found that exactly 946 million people still defecate in open areas, with India having the worst condition, as more than 600 million still defecate outdoors despite the availability of facilities.
The health report blames the shortage of toilet facilities on a lack of investments targeted towards "behavior change campaigns," shortage of affordable sanitary products for the poor and social norms that encourage people to defecate in the open.
According to WHO, non-observance of proper sanitation puts people at risk of contracting 16 of the 17 neglected tropical diseases, or NTDs. Those who defecate in open spaces only pollute water systems, which inadvertently causes malnutrition and eventually, irreversible physical and brain damage.
"Until everyone has access to adequate sanitation facilities the quality of water supplies will be undermined and too many people will continue to die from waterborne and water-related diseases," said Maria Neira, WHO's public director, according to The Guardian.
Efforts to provide access to clean drinking water and sanitation facilities may have improved since 1990, but there are millions of people from the world's poorest nations who have not seen any improvements.
Still, the goal of cutting down the number of people without toilet access in half has been met ahead of the deadline this year, but there is still a need to fulfill other sanitation goals.
The UN will release new goals for sustainable development by September and will include elimination of open defecation, which is expected to be fulfilled by 2030.
