5 Scary (but real!) Facts about Clean Water

The air is crisp, leaves are turning, pumpkin spice treats fill the shelves of our favourite coffee shops. You know what that means: Halloween is almost upon us! There’s something about this spooky holiday that we just can’t get enough of. Is it all the candy? The fun costumes? The scary tales? We don’t know, but we sure love it.

It’s the spookiest time of the year, but do you know what’s scarier than crooked-nose witches and hairy spiders? The  number of people that still don’t have access to clean drinking water (hint hint: it’s 663 million!). This number is so high that it’s hard to wrap our heads around it. So here’s a list of spooky (but very real) facts about clean water that will scare the living daylights out of you!

1. People who don’t have access to clean water could fill every seat at Old Trafford stadium for 24 years.

Football has been England’s favourite pastime for decades, with Manchester United being one of the country’s most popular football teams. The number of people who currently don’t have access to clean drinking water is sufficient to fill out the entire Old Trafford Stadium every single day for the next 24 years. We can’t even imagine how many meat pies this would actually entail.

2. 663 million people holding hands can form a circle around the Earth… 28 times!

Our planet is pretty big. Having enough people to hold hands and form a circle around the Earth once would be remarkable enough. But if everyone who currently doesn't have access to clean water holds hands, they can circle the Earth 28 times!!!

3. There are more people without clean water than there are people checking their Instagram accounts every day.

When Millennials are not photographing, boomeranging, or streaming their lives on Instagram, they are looking at pictures and videos created by friends, influencers and their favourite brands. So, it’s not a surprise that 500 million people check their Instagram accounts every single day. The surprising (and quite scary) fact is that almost 200 million more people live their lives without clean water on a daily basis.

4. The number of people without clean drinking water is greater than the total population of the European Union.

The European Union has the world’s third largest population after China and India. There are an estimated 508 million people living across EU countries. That’s a whole lot of people but still less than the number of people with no clean water. Holy mackerel!

5. There are more people with iPhones than with access to clean drinking water.

The iPhone is loved by so many that we stopped to wonder: is it possible that the number of people with an iPhone is higher than that of those with access to clean drinking water? The answer is yes. There are more than 700 million iPhones currently in use worldwide, surpassing by almost 50 million the number of people who don’t have proper water and sanitation. Now, that’s what we call a reality-check!