Estimated number of people in 2003 who lacked access to sanitation:
2.4 billion
Estimated number of people in 2003 who depended on groundwater:
2 billion
Projected cost per year of providing worldwide water access by 2015:
$30 billion
Number of countries that experienced serious water shortages by the mid-1990s:
about 80 (comprising about 40% of the world’s population)
Amount of bottled water produced in 2001:
1.31 million liters, up from 1.2 million liters in 2000
Group that consumed the most bottled water in 2001:
Western Europeans, at 97 liters per capita, up from 93 liters in 2000
Groups that consumed the least:
Africans and those in the Middle East, 9 liters per capita, for both 2000 and 2001
Source: International Council of Bottled Water Associations and