Water carrying in low-income countries: Women and children at work

Objective. To provide current estimates of water carrying in low-income countries.

Methods. Data are from the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS3), an in-person representative sample survey with high response rates, that was conducted in 2005-2008 in 52 countries. A series of questions was asked about water carrying. Analyses are based on the 34 countries whose data are available as of January 2009 - 12 in Central and Eastern Europe, 4 in East Asia, 2 in Eastern and Southern Africa, 3 in the Middle East and North Africa, 1 in South Asia, 5 in Latin America, and 7 in West and Central Africa.

Results. Households in sub-Saharan Africa were markedly less likely to have drinking water on the premises (21.7% vs. 77.1% elsewhere) and substantially farther from a source of water (29.1 minutes vs. 18.7 minutes for a roundtrip elsewhere). Mongolia, Yemen, Malawi and Somalia were outliers in their regions. In Malawi, only 6.0% of households had on-premises water (vs. an average of 23.7% elsewhere in sub-Sahara) and in Somalia, the mean time to-from the water source was over an hour (70.2 minutes vs. 23.7 minutes elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa). A great majority of the water carriers in sub-Saharan Africa were women, women with children, or children alone (86.6% vs. 57.8% elsewhere).

Conclusions and implications. Women are weighed down literally and figuratively by water carrying in developing countries. Development that decreases the distance between residences and water sources could free women and children to further contribute to society.