We all need water to live, but not all drinking water is created equal. Despite access to safe drinking water being a human right, the World Health Organization says a large portion of the world's population is living in water-stressed countries or consuming water contaminated with faeces and other harmful pollutants — and a country's wealth unfortunately plays a big role.

Yale's Environmental Performance Index, which rates and monitors global water quality, gives each country a score based on the number of (adjusted) life years lost per 100,000 persons due to exposure to unsafe drinking water. The US Centers for Disease Control also lists countries it deems as having (or not having) safe drinking water, and recommends not drinking tap water "in most middle and low-income countries, even in cities."

QS Supplies visualized data from the EPI and the CDC in the graphics below.

Key Findings:

• All of the ten countries with the maximum 100 EPI score for water are located in Europe.

• The European countries of Albania and Moldova, meanwhile, achieve barely half of that — scoring 50.3 and 50.8, respectively.

• Every single one of the 24 countries with the lowest EPI rating are found in Africa.

• The CDC warns against drinking tap water anywhere in Africa and recommends against drinking tap water in much of Asia and Latin America too.

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Via QS Supplies.