UN reports mobile phones are more popular than toilets

That’s right, a recent United Nations report revealed that more people have access to cell phones than proper sanitation.

Out of the seven billion people in the world, six billion of them have a cell phone, while only 4.5 billion have access to toilets. According to the UN report, there are still 1.1 billion people that defecate in the open.

In 2010 the UN reported that there were 545 million cell phones used throughout India, enough for almost half of the population, but only 366 million people had access to improved sanitation. A United Nations University report says that it would take $300 to build  a toilet, including labor, materials, and advice.

Not only do cellphones allow traditional verbal communications, but they also allow for residents (without toilets) to have Internet access. According to the International Telecommunications Union, mobile phone prices decreased by 22% in developing countries in 2010. M any of the developing countries even live on fixed-broadband connections. The biggest price decline occurred in this area when fixed broadband prices dropped by 52.2%. 

Poor sanitation and hygiene result in many cases of diarrhea in the countries that lack proper waste disposal. This is the second largest cause of death in children under five years.

 
“We can reduce the cases of diarrhea in children under five by a third simply by expanding the access of communities to sanitation and eliminating open defecation,“ said Martin Mogwanja, Deputy Executive Director of the UN Children’s Fund.

 
As a result of this alarming study, U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson announced that the group has launched “a call for urgent action” to cut in half the number of people without toilet access by 2015.

Man constructs a toilet in Cambodia. (Image via UNICEF)

In August 2012 the Bill Gates Foundation held a “reinvent the toilet” challenge to get ideas flowing to allow for more toilet access around the world. Gates offered $42 million to researchers to build a future toilet that is safe, easy to install, and promotes better hygiene.