From 3 cents to $3.50, the cost of a shower speaks volumes about access to water and sanitation
LONDON, Sept 15 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Papua New Guinea is the world's most expensive place to take a shower, with the cost of a typical eight-minute rinse approaching $3.50 - or a whopping 70 percent of an average person’s daily income, according to data highlighting inequalities in access to water and sanitation worldwide.
A similar wash-to-wealth ratio would result in an $83 shower in the United States, where the actual cost of a soapy scrub is just 16 cents due to cheaper water and better infrastructure. In China, Argentina and Armenia, showers are even better value at just 3 cents.
Such inequalities are revealed in an info-graphic by HighTide Technologies, a U.S.-based company that develops water-monitoring systems, drawing on data from a report by the International Water Association.
Among the surprising findings:
- After Papua New Guinea, the most expensive countries to have a shower are India ($0.92), Madagascar ($0.92) and Denmark ($0.70).
- The cheapest are China ($0.03), Argentina ($0.03), Armenia ($0.03) and South Korea ($0.05).
- Countries where showers are most expensive as a proportion of daily income are Papua New Guinea (70 percent), Madagascar (59 percent), India (20 percent), Ethiopia (20 percent) and Mozambique (17 percent).
- Around 900 million people worldwide don’t have access to clean water and 1.8 billion people use a drinking water source that is contaminated.
- Some 3.3 million people die each year due to dirty water and poor hygiene.
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