Less than half of the world's inhabitants (3.6 billion people) live with substandard toilets, a statistic timed to coincide with World Toilet Day. The United Nations (UN) said.

This date [Nov. 19] is meant as a reminder of the importance of overcoming the global sanitation crisis. According to the organization, as of 2020, 3.6 billion people (just under half of the world's population) are living with substandard toilets, the UN specified.

As noted, 1.7 billion people living on the planet do not even have basic sanitation, including people from rural areas in the least developed countries.

Safe sanitation protects groundwater from pollution by human waste, the organization noted.

At the same time, one of the important objectives aimed at sustainable development is to provide the world with safe toilets for everyone. The approximate deadline for achieving the plan is 2030.