What we count
Total freshwater withdrawals for agriculture, industry and households before some water may return to the environment.
Freshwater withdrawn this year
How much freshwater humanity withdraws from rivers, lakes and groundwater in a year.
Continuously calculated
WORLDRelated numbers in context
3,400,000,000people without safely managed sanitation
2,100,000,000people without safely managed drinking water
What lies behind this number
Total freshwater withdrawals for agriculture, industry and households before some water may return to the environment.
How the source derives it
The source harmonises national observations and surveys to make the global figure as comparable across countries as possible.
What one number cannot show
Withdrawal is not consumption: some water returns after use. The global total also hides large regional differences in availability.
Source value
The calculation uses the latest published annual value from FAO AQUASTAT for latest national observations available in the AQUASTAT 2024 cycle.
How the value is used: The running number shows the share corresponding to time since the start of the year.
Annual value4,000,000,000million litres
- Period
- latest national observations available in the AQUASTAT 2024 cycle
- Status
- published
- Primary data source
- FAO AQUASTAT
How the number is calculated
We distribute the published annual value evenly across the elapsed share of the calendar year.
Formula used
V(t) = Vyear × elapsed share of the yearAnnual reference value4,000,000,000latest national observations available in the AQUASTAT 2024 cycle · million litres
Average per day10,951,628even time-based calculation
Calculation interval0.1 sContinuously calculated
Source value
FAO AQUASTAT reports the latest published figure used on this page for latest national observations available in the AQUASTAT 2024 cycle.
Calculation method
We distribute the published annual value evenly across the elapsed share of the calendar year.
Smooth display
The result is recalculated on screen every 0.1 seconds.
Where the data comes from
The source value comes from FAO AQUASTAT and refers to latest national observations available in the AQUASTAT 2024 cycle. It is the latest figure published by this source. The source harmonises national observations and surveys to make the global figure as comparable across countries as possible.
Latest published and verified source value
- Publisher
- FAO AQUASTAT
- Data period
- latest national observations available in the AQUASTAT 2024 cycle
- Verified
- 12 August 2026
- Coverage
- Worldwide
- Use
- Even time-based calculation