UN Lists Iran Among 25 Countries Facing Extreme Water Crisis

In its annual world water development report, the United Nations Water (UN-Water) announced that Iran is experiencing “extremely high-water stress.”

Entitled “Water for Prosperity and Peace,” the report was published this week on the occasion of World Water Day, held annually on March 22.

According to the report, Iran, along with Pakistan, Turkmenistan and India, are among the countries in the Asia-Pacific region that are grappling with extremely high-water stress. Furthermore, some other regional countries such as Turkey, Afghanistan, Nepal, Uzbekistan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan are impacted by high-water stress.

The report defines baseline water stress as “the ratio of total water withdrawals to available renewable surface and groundwater supplies.”

The population in the Asia-Pacific region living under high or extremely high water scarcity drastically increased from 1.1 billion in 1975 to 2.6 billion in 2010, the report stated.

UN-Water also pointed out that Asia-Pacific is “the world’s most vulnerable region to disasters caused by natural hazards,” and therefore, water scarcity in the region and responses to it are further exacerbated by climate change.

“Asia accounts for nearly one third (31%) of weather-, climate- and water-related disasters reported globally, for nearly half (47%) of deaths, and nearly one third (31%) of associated economic losses,” read the UN report.

Globally, 25 countries with around 25% of the world’s population are experiencing extremely high water stress as they extract more than 80% of their annual renewable freshwater supply.

In November 2023, World Weather Attribution said human-induced climate change has played a major role in exacerbating a three-year drought in Iran.

According to the latest figures, the volume of water in Iran’s dams over the past six months has decreased by 10 percent compared to the same period last year.