knitr::opts_chunk$set(
  echo = FALSE,
  warning = FALSE,
  message = FALSE
)

library(tidyverse)
library(plotly)
library(scales)
library(ggplot2)

Introduction

Freshwater is one of the world’s most vital resources to sustain life, supporting drinking water, food production, industry, and the ecosystem. Although it is often treated as a renewable resource, the data shows a more delicate story. While about 71% of the world’s population is covered in water, only around 1% of water is available for human use and consumption. Adding to the immense scarcity of fresh water, the growing population, expanding agriculture, and other economic activities are placing increasing pressure on the available freshwater resources.

This visual story uses five interactive charts to explore how freshwater use has changed over time, where water demand is concentrated, the role agriculture plays in freshwater consumption, and which countries face the greatest levels of water stress. Multiple publicly available datasets are used to create the visualisations that reveal how rising demand for freshwater is creating growing challenges for water management around the world.

Chart 1: Global Freshwater Withdrawals Continue to Rise

The first chart shows a very clear upward trend in global freshwater withdrawals between 2014 and 2021. Despite some fluctuations in some years, the overall withdrawals have increased, indicating that freshwater demand will continue to rise as the demand for it keeps increasing.

Chart 2: Freshwater Use is Concentrated around a Few Countries

The chart is based on the most recent data available on the datasets. Here, it is evident that the freshwater withdrawals are not evenly distributed across the world. A small number of countries account for a large share of total withdrawals, reflecting differences overall consumption, demand, and availability.

Chart 3: Agriculture Accounts for Most Freshwater Demand

Based on the above graph, it is clear that the agriculture a driving factor of freshwater use in many countires. However, the relationship between total withdrawals and agricultural dependence is not uniform.

Chart 4: Freshwater Withdrawals and Water Stress

The above chart indicates that water stress does not simply depend on how much freshwater a country withdraws, but also on the renewable freshwater resources available to it. This means countries with similar withdrawal levels can experience very different levels of pressure on their water systems.

Chart 5: Where Agricultural Dependence and Water Stress Overlap

The countries of greatest concern are those where high agricultural dependence overlaps with high water stress. These countries may face increasing difficulty balancing food production, economic activity, and long-term water security.

Conclusion

There is more to the freshwater crisis than just global water consumption. It also concerns how and where water is used, as well as whether freshwater supplies in the area can meet the demand. These graphs demonstrate how water stress differs greatly between nations and how agriculture plays a major role in the global freshwater story.