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You made more possible for 9.9 million people

It's clear: safe water changes lives

In 2025 you helped change the future for 9.9 million people with access to safe water or sanitation.

You turned poverty to possibility, time spent to time saved, and dreams into reality.

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2025 at a glance

9.9 million+

9,979,366 lives changed across 15 countries

$1.03 billion

$1,034,392,694 in small loans disbursed by our partners for water or sanitation

2.2 million

2,279,894 million water or sanitation loans disbursed by our partners

Water.org has helped empower more than 92 million people with access to safe water or sanitation – more than 9.9 million people last year alone.

See the number of lives changed in each country in 2025.

How safe water is changing everything for families around the world

We’ve seen firsthand how access to safe water and sanitation changes daily life for the people we reach. To understand that impact, we regularly survey people who use small loans from our local financial partners to improve their water and sanitation. As of January 2026, those insights show:

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Improved health

77% say their family's health improved with safe water or sanitation at home. Improved water, sanitation, and hygiene practices help reduce disease, undernutrition, and injury from water collection, and ease the daily stress for women and girls.

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Women's empowerment

90% of people who take out water and sanitation loans are women. With water closer to home, women spend less time collecting it and more time earning income, caring for their families, and shaping their futures.

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Increased access to education

63% report that household members get sick less often now that they have safe water or sanitation at home. Access to safe water and sanitation gives kids time and health for school and play.

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Economic potential

73% of the people we serve live in rural areas. When families no longer spend hours collecting water, they gain time to work, learn, and pursue opportunities that can help break the cycle of poverty.

  • Safe water turns challenges into choices

    After building her home in Cajueiro, Brazil, Francisca had to collect water from a nearby pond. Through our partnership with Banco do Nordeste, a local bank in her community, Francisca learned she could take out a small loan to construct a water storage cistern on her property.

    Francisca no longer treks long distances to collect water. She no longer worries about her son Gabriel’s health. Now, she can watch him grow, learn, and thrive.

    Read Francisca's story
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  • Water is a smart investment

    Along the Java Sea in Northeastern Indonesia, Tukinem tends to her rice and corn fields and teaches at the local school.

    After learning about small loans for water and sanitation from Water.org’s microfinance partner, PNM Mekaar, Tukinem was able to finance a water tank, pipes, and a faucet for her home.

    Enjoying the health and benefits of safe water, Tukinem shares with her students and their parents the importance of using safe water in their homes and encourages families to consider a small loan similar to her own.

    Read Tukinem's story
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  • Safe water unlocks health, time, and opportunity

    Before getting a safe water connection on her property, Amina’s family depended on a community well. The wait was long, the buckets heavy, and the water often unsafe.

    Amina and her husband learned about an affordable loan opportunity from our local partner bank and used it to install a safe water connection and improved sanitation solution in their home.

    With safe water flowing, everything changed. Chores that once took hours now take minutes. Amina and her family can bathe, cook, and clean without delay, freeing Amina to focus on her chicken and banana farming. “I have total peace of mind,” she shared. “Water truly is everything.”

    Learn more about Amina's solution
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Thank you for supporting Water.org

We could not do this life-changing work without you. Together we can create more stories of resilience, health, and hope for millions more people in need of safe water and sanitation.

Together, let's change millions of lives with safe water.

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