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At the same time, 161 million people (1 in 4) do not have adequate access to safe drinking water, and 431 million (7 in 10) to safely managed sanitation.
In both cases, although with significant differences between countries, the shortcomings are associated with problems of access, affordability, that is to say, difficulty in paying or the absence of infrastructure.
First, people without access to these basic services belong to the lowest segment of the national income distribution.
Thus, the most vulnerable populations must make a proportionally greater economic effort, up to 2.5 times more than the more affluent, to assume their cost. Second, this economic inequality is compounded by geographic and social inequalities, with rural, indigenous and Afro-descendant populations being the most deprived.
Finally, the quality and structure of housing also influences access to these basic services. In the region, 15% of the population living in precarious housing does not have access to electricity.
Translated by: A.M