Water Resource Statistics : Graphs & Maps

The total volume of water on Earth is about 1.4 billion km3. The volume of freshwater resources is around 35 million km3, or about 2.5 percent of the total volume. Source: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Of these freshwater resources, about 24 million km3 or 70 percent is in the form of ice and permanent snow cover in mountainous regions, the Antarctic and Arctic regions. Source: UNEP Around 30 percent of the world's freshwater is stored underground in the form of groundwater (shallow and deep groundwater basins up to 2 000 metres, soil moisture, swamp water and permafrost). This constitutes about 97 percent of all the freshwater that is potentially available for human use. Source: UNEP Freshwater lakes and rivers contain an estimated 105 000 km3 or around 0.3 percent of the world's freshwater. Source: UNEP The Earth's atmosphere contains approximately 13,000 km3 of water. Source: World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) The total usable freshwater supply for ecosystems and humans is about 200 000 km3 of water - less than 1 percent of all freshwater resources. Source: UNEP