A quarter of the world’s population is currently exposed to extremely high annual water stress. World Resources Institute (WRI) revealed.

Afghan Voice Agency(AVA)_Monitoing, The WRI’s Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas found 25 countries are currently suffering from extreme water stress every year – with Bahrain, Cyprus, Kuwait, Lebanon and Oman the worst affected.

Afghanistan meanwhile is ranked at number 40 out of 164 countries.

In addition, an even higher proportion is exposed to water stress at least some of the time.

Currently, half of the world’s population endure extremely high water stress at least one month of the year, a number the WRI predicts will rise to 60% by 2050.

By then an additional one billion people are expected to have to live with extreme water stress, even if global temperature rises are limited to between 1.3C and 2.4C by 2100.

“People like to think about climate change as the biggest existential threat to humanity,” Crystal Davis, global director of WRI’s Food, Land and Water Program told Sky News.

“Water is essential to nearly every crisis we face, because when we don’t have enough water, we don’t produce enough food or energy.

“We can’t keep people healthy, wildfires intensify, people migrate, conflict ensues, and equality worsens,” she said.

“If a country is using 100% of its available supply, usually you’re going to start to see a few bad things happen,” says Charles Iceland, director of Freshwater Initiatives at the WRI.

“Groundwater levels drop, rivers dry up, lakes dry up, wetlands dry up and we’re seeing that across places in the Middle East, like Iraq and Iran.”

Currently, 60% of the world’s irrigated agriculture is grown in areas with extreme water stress, meaning crops are at a heightened risk of failing in periods of dry weather.

The worst affected region is North Africa and the Middle East, where 83% of the population is currently exposed to extremely high water stress. By 2050 that figure is expected to rise to 100% of the population.
South Asia is the second worst affected region, with 74% of the population there exposed to extremely high water stress.