Water Consumption by Country 2026

Top 10 Countries that Consume the Most Water

Water is important for humans for many reasons. It is essential for hydration and provides several valuable health benefits. It can also help improve the way some human organs function. Some countries consume more water than others. In this article, we will learn more about the statistics that involve water consumption by country as of 2020.

While India uses the most water every year at 761 billion cubic meters, it’s Turkmenistan that has the highest annual rate of water withdrawal per capita. 4,350 cubic meters of water is withdrawn per person on an annual basis in Turkmenistan. About 2.83% of that is used by industries while 4.22% is used by municipalities. And 92.95% is used for agriculture.

China is the next country on the list for total water withdrawal. The Chinese withdraw 581 billion cubic meters of water per year, but most of it, 61.34%, is used for agricultural purposes. Industries use 26.33%, and municipalities use 12.33%. Another country that also uses the majority of the water it withdraws for agriculture purposes is the fifth country on the list, Pakistan. Here, 94.33% of the country’s 183 billion m3 worth of water withdrawn every year is used for agriculture; 1.57% is used for industrial purposes, and 4.10% is used by municipalities.

The United States, which withdraws 444 billion m3 worth of water each year, is third on the list. In 2020, of all water withdrawn in the United States, 37.3% was used for agriculture, 45.3% for industrial purposes, and 17.4% for municipalities. The fourth country for the top five total water consuming countries in the world is Indonesia with 223 billion m3. The country uses 92.14% of it for agriculture, 3.06% for industrial purposes, and 4.8% for municipalities.

The remaining countries on the top ten list include Iran at 93.3 billion m3 annually, Mexico at 89.5 billion m3, the Philippines at 85.9 billion m3, Vietnam at 82 billion m3, and Japan at 78.4 billion m3 of water annually. As with most other countries above them, with the exception of Japan, these countries use the majority of their water for agricultural purposes.

Conversely, many countries use very little water every year. The Maldives, for example, only withdraws 10 million m3 of water annually. In 2020, 3.4% of that water went to agriculture, none was used for industrial purposes, and 96.6% was used for municipalities.

Other countries that use very little water per year include Comoros, Seychelles, Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda, Monaco, Equatorial Guinea, and Djibouti. All of these countries withdraw around 10 million m3 of water annually.