Dataset · FAO

Water Stress

24 years, 2000–2023 · 177 countries

Water stress is SDG indicator 6.4.2: how much freshwater a country withdraws each year as a share of what is renewably available to it. Above 100% a country is taking more water than nature replaces — desalinating it, or drawing down groundwater that will not come back.

This site holds every year from 2000 to 2023, read from FAO’s own data and stored exactly as published.

Open Water Stress, 2023 Download all 24 · CSV See it charted by country →

Water Stress · the file

Newest: Water Stress, 2023
Held: 24 years · 4,120 rows
Licence: CC BY 4.0

24years held
2000–2023years
4,120rows across every year
177countries in the newest
1measure
CC BY 4.0licence

0124 years

Every year

Every year comes from FAO’s 2026 release, recalculated on one method. Each opens the full table for that year; each downloads as a CSV.

2000bar height: countries covered, up to 1772023

Every year of Water Stress held on this site, newest first, with its download files.
Year	Countries	Change	Read	Download
Water Stress, 2023Newest	177	±0	September 12, 2026	CSV
Water Stress, 2022	177	±0	September 12, 2026	CSV
Water Stress, 2021	177	±0	September 12, 2026	CSV
Water Stress, 2020	177	±0	September 12, 2026	CSV
Water Stress, 2019	177	±0	September 12, 2026	CSV
Water Stress, 2018	177	±0	September 12, 2026	CSV
Water Stress, 2017	177	±0	September 12, 2026	CSV
Water Stress, 2016	177	±0	September 12, 2026	CSV
Water Stress, 2015	177	±0	September 12, 2026	CSV
Water Stress, 2014	177	±0	September 12, 2026	CSV
Water Stress, 2013	177	±0	September 12, 2026	CSV
Water Stress, 2012	177	+2	September 12, 2026	CSV

Show all 24 years

Year	Countries	Change	Read	Download
Water Stress, 2011	175	±0	September 12, 2026	CSV
Water Stress, 2010	175	+1	September 12, 2026	CSV
Water Stress, 2009	174	±0	September 12, 2026	CSV
Water Stress, 2008	174	+3	September 12, 2026	CSV
Water Stress, 2007	171	+3	September 12, 2026	CSV
Water Stress, 2006	168	+3	September 12, 2026	CSV
Water Stress, 2005	165	+3	September 12, 2026	CSV
Water Stress, 2004	162	+1	September 12, 2026	CSV
Water Stress, 2003	161	+1	September 12, 2026	CSV
Water Stress, 2002	160	+3	September 12, 2026	CSV
Water Stress, 2001	157	+3	September 12, 2026	CSV
Water Stress, 2000	154	—	September 12, 2026	CSV

Every year in one file, one row per country per year: water-stress-all-editions-nations-inquiry.csv

023 columns

What’s in the file

Every column, what it holds, how it is stored and what its values look like — what a reader needs before opening the file.

Every column in the newest file of Water Stress: what it holds, how it is stored, and its range.
Column	What it holds	Stored as	Range, 2023	Distinct
ISO Code`country_code`Identifier	The ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 code, added by this site. Every table here joins on it.	Text · 3 letters	—	177
Country`country`Name	The country’s name, as this file spells it.	Text	—	177
Freshwater withdrawal as a share of available resources (%)`water_stress`Headline	The headline figure: Freshwater withdrawal as a share of available resources (%).	Number · up to 2 decimals	0.03Republic of the Congo3,850.50Kuwaitmiddle 10.00	173

Profiled from the newest file. Range: the lowest and highest value, with the country holding it when only one does. Spread: countries in ten equal steps from lowest to highest. A higher value is the worse result.

03177 countries across every year

Who is covered

How many countries each year holds, continent by continent, who joined and who left, and which places this site covers that the dataset never has.

All regions

Countries in each year of Water Stress, by continent.
	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Africa	53	53	53	53	53	53	53	53	53	53	53	53
Americas	34	34	34	34	34	34	34	34	34	34	34	34
Asia	47	47	47	47	47	47	47	47	47	47	47	47
Europe	39	39	39	39	39	39	39	39	39	39	39	39
Oceania	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4
All	177	177	177	177	177	177	177	177	177	177	177	177

The newest 12 of 24 years.

Who joined and who left

2012
+ Sudan+ South Sudan
2010
+ Panama
2008
+ Bangladesh+ Bhutan+ Peru
2007
+ Andorra+ Saint Lucia+ Thailand
2006
+ Cambodia+ Philippines+ Serbia
2005
+ Costa Rica+ Grenada+ Laos
2004
+ Timor-Leste
2003
+ Honduras

Not in this dataset · 47 places this site covers

FAO gives no figure for these in any year held here. It is the publisher’s choice of scope, and each place’s profile shows what is measured.

04Provenance

Where it comes from

The path from the publisher to this page, and what was checked and changed on the way.

The site’s method

1 · Publisher
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
fao.org
2 · Their file
Water Stress 2023
SDG_BulkDownloads_E_All_Data_(Normalized).zip
3 · Read by this site
September 12, 2026
Imported by a script that parses each figure and writes it down unrounded.
4 · Stored as
24 files, one per year
Each downloads as a CSV, or every year together as water-stress-all-editions-nations-inquiry.csv
5 · Used on
Its statistic page, and every profile it measures
/statistics/water-stressA key for Environment & Sustainability in the Country Index.

Precision

The headline is stored to 2 decimals, as published.

Rounded by this site

Never. Tables on screen may show fewer decimals; the files never do.

Changed by this site

Reshaped into one row per country: regional and income-group totals are left out, only the columns listed are kept, each row gets its ISO 3166 code, and some country names are brought to one spelling. No value is recalculated, rescaled or rounded.

From FAO's own SDG Indicators dissemination on FAOSTAT, which computes the indicator from AQUASTAT. Readings are published to two decimal places.

05Reuse

Licence and credit

What the publisher’s licence lets you do, what it asks of you, and a credit line and citation ready to copy.

Every publisher’s terms

Licence · checked September 12, 2026

CC BY 4.0

Share and redistribute it
Adapt it and build on it
Use it commercially
Credit the publisher
Say what you changed

Share, adapt and use commercially. Credit the publisher and say if you changed anything.

A credit line

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Water Stress, via Nations Inquiry.

Cite this dataset

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Water Stress, 2000–2023 [data set]. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/water-stress

The publisher’s own citation: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. AQUASTAT. Rome: FAO.

Plain-language summary, not legal advice. The licence text is what binds.

06Where it is used

Around the site

Where these numbers appear on this site, and the datasets nearest to it.

Charted
Water Stress by country
Who is highest, the map, the spread, who rose and fell, and the records.
In the Country Index
A key for Environment & Sustainability
“Whether a country withdraws more freshwater than nature replaces: the one pressure in this subject a country creates for itself rather than faces.”
Environment & Sustainability standings
Subjects
- Environment & Sustainability
- Risk & Resilience
Near neighbours
- CO₂ Emissions per CapitaGlobal Carbon Project · 75 held · 1950–2024
- Ecological FootprintGlobal Footprint Network · 65 held · 1961–2025
- Climate Vulnerability (ND-GAIN)ND-GAIN · 30 held · 1995–2024

07Questions

Water Stress: questions and answers

What is the Water Stress?

Which years of the Water Stress can I download?

All 24, from 2000 to 2023, each as a CSV file, or every year together in one CSV.

Does FAO rank countries on it?

No. FAO publishes values only. The positions shown on this site are derived by ordering the published values, and are labelled as ours.

Can I use it commercially?

Yes, under CC BY 4.0, with credit to FAO. The licence text is linked on this page.

Year

Countries

Change

Read

Download

Water Stress, 2023Newest

177

±0

September 12, 2026