Water scarcity can reduce crop yields, undermining efforts to promote food security. Water stress is defined as the degree to which water resources (rivers, lakes, aquifers) are being exploited to meet countries’ water demand for agriculture, reflected as the total freshwater withdrawn by agriculture as a proportion of available freshwater resources. This indicator tracks progress of withdrawals and supply of freshwater to address water scarcity. The indicator complements water use efficiency by focusing more on water sources and the environment (and thus subsequent effects on biodiversity) than the use itself. While reduced water stress values are generally considered positive, in a few cases, extremely low values may be detrimental as they may indicate the inability of a country to properly use its water resources. In these cases, a moderate increase would be a positive sign instead. Globally, water stress has remained consistent at 13% from 2015 (the earliest year available) to 2020. 

Water scarcity can reduce crop yields, undermining efforts to promote food security. Water stress is defined as the degree to which water resources (rivers, lakes, aquifers) are being exploited to meet countries’ water demand for agriculture, reflected as the total freshwater withdrawn by agriculture as a proportion of available freshwater resources. This indicator tracks progress of withdrawals and supply of freshwater to address water scarcity. The indicator complements water use efficiency by focusing more on water sources and the environment (and thus subsequent effects on biodiversity) than the use itself. While reduced water stress values are generally considered positive, in a few cases, extremely low values may be detrimental as they may indicate the inability of a country to properly use its water resources. In these cases, a moderate increase would be a positive sign instead. Globally, water stress has remained consistent at 13% from 2015 (the earliest year available) to 2020.