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Data

Global freshwater use over the long-run

About this data

Source
IGB (2017) – processed by Our World in Data
Last updated
August 11, 2017
Date range
1901–2014
Unit
m³

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A dark blue background with a lighter blue world map superimposed over it. Yellow text that says Water Use and Stress by Our World in Data

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Sources and processing

This data is based on the following sources

IGB – Global freshwater use since 1900

Data measures global freshwater use which is the sum of water withdrawals for agriculture, industrial and domestic uses. Data from 1900-2010 is sourced from the IGB Programme (full reference below). Global data has been extended to 2014 by combining with 2014 'World' figures as reported in the World Bank - World Development Indicators, under the variable "Annual Freshwater Withdrawals, Total (billion cubic meters)". Available at: http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog/world-development-indicators [accessed 2017-11-08].

Data from 1900-2010 is sourced from the IGB Database. IGB's data is estimated using the WaterGAP model from Flörke et al. 2013 (full reference below). Data is available at aggregates in OECD, BRICS and Rest of the World (ROW). OECD members are defined as countries who were members in 2010 and their membership was carried back in time. BRICS countries are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Full references: Alcamo, J., Döll, P., Henrichs, T., Kaspar, F., Lehner, B., Rösch, T., Siebert, S., 2003. Development and testing of the WaterGAP 2 global model of water use and availability. Hydrological Sciences Journal 48:317–337. aus der Beek, T., Flörke, M., Lapola, D. M., Schaldach, R., Voß, F., and Teichert, E. 2010. Modelling historical and current irrigation water demand on the continental scale: Europe. Advances in Geoscience 27:79-85 doi:10.5194/adgeo-27-79-2010 Flörke, M., Kynast, E., Bärlund, I., Eisner, S., Wimmer, F., Alcamo, J. 2013. Domestic and industrial water uses of the past 60 years as a mirror of socio-economic development: A global simulation study. Global Environmental Change 23: 144-156

Retrieved on
August 11, 2017
Retrieved from
http://www.igbp.net/globalchange/greatacceleration.4.1b8ae20512db692f2a680001630.html
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
Global International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGB).

Data measures global freshwater use which is the sum of water withdrawals for agriculture, industrial and domestic uses. Data from 1900-2010 is sourced from the IGB Programme (full reference below). Global data has been extended to 2014 by combining with 2014 'World' figures as reported in the World Bank - World Development Indicators, under the variable "Annual Freshwater Withdrawals, Total (billion cubic meters)". Available at: http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog/world-development-indicators [accessed 2017-11-08].

Data from 1900-2010 is sourced from the IGB Database. IGB's data is estimated using the WaterGAP model from Flörke et al. 2013 (full reference below). Data is available at aggregates in OECD, BRICS and Rest of the World (ROW). OECD members are defined as countries who were members in 2010 and their membership was carried back in time. BRICS countries are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Full references: Alcamo, J., Döll, P., Henrichs, T., Kaspar, F., Lehner, B., Rösch, T., Siebert, S., 2003. Development and testing of the WaterGAP 2 global model of water use and availability. Hydrological Sciences Journal 48:317–337. aus der Beek, T., Flörke, M., Lapola, D. M., Schaldach, R., Voß, F., and Teichert, E. 2010. Modelling historical and current irrigation water demand on the continental scale: Europe. Advances in Geoscience 27:79-85 doi:10.5194/adgeo-27-79-2010 Flörke, M., Kynast, E., Bärlund, I., Eisner, S., Wimmer, F., Alcamo, J. 2013. Domestic and industrial water uses of the past 60 years as a mirror of socio-economic development: A global simulation study. Global Environmental Change 23: 144-156

Retrieved on
August 11, 2017
Retrieved from
http://www.igbp.net/globalchange/greatacceleration.4.1b8ae20512db692f2a680001630.html
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
Global International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGB).

How we process data at Our World in Data

All data and visualizations on Our World in Data rely on data sourced from one or several original data providers. Preparing this original data involves several processing steps. Depending on the data, this can include standardizing country names and world region definitions, converting units, calculating derived indicators such as per capita measures, as well as adding or adapting metadata such as the name or the description given to an indicator.

At the link below you can find a detailed description of the structure of our data pipeline, including links to all the code used to prepare data across Our World in Data.

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Citations

How to cite this page

To cite this page overall, including any descriptions, FAQs or explanations of the data authored by Our World in Data, please use the following citation:

“Data Page: Global freshwater use over the long-run”. Our World in Data (2026). Data adapted from IGB. Retrieved from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20260511-092124/grapher/global-freshwater-use-over-the-long-run.html [online resource] (archived on May 11, 2026).

How to cite this data

In-line citationIf you have limited space (e.g. in data visualizations), you can use this abbreviated in-line citation:

IGB (2017) – processed by Our World in Data

Full citation

IGB (2017) – processed by Our World in Data. “Global freshwater use over the long-run” [dataset]. IGB, “Global freshwater use since 1900” [original data]. Retrieved May 13, 2026 from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20260511-092124/grapher/global-freshwater-use-over-the-long-run.html (archived on May 11, 2026).

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Data API

Use these URLs to programmatically access this chart's data and configure your requests with the options below. Our documentation provides more information on how to use the API, and you can find a few code examples below.

Data URL (CSV format)
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-freshwater-use-over-the-long-run.csv?v=1&csvType=full&useColumnShortNames=false
Metadata URL (JSON format)
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-freshwater-use-over-the-long-run.metadata.json?v=1&csvType=full&useColumnShortNames=false

Code examples

Examples of how to load this data into different data analysis tools.

Excel / Google Sheets
=IMPORTDATA("https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-freshwater-use-over-the-long-run.csv?v=1&csvType=full&useColumnShortNames=false")
Python with Pandas
import pandas as pd
import requests

# Fetch the data.
df = pd.read_csv("https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-freshwater-use-over-the-long-run.csv?v=1&csvType=full&useColumnShortNames=false", storage_options = {'User-Agent': 'Our World In Data data fetch/1.0'})

# Fetch the metadata
metadata = requests.get("https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-freshwater-use-over-the-long-run.metadata.json?v=1&csvType=full&useColumnShortNames=false").json()
R
library(jsonlite)

# Fetch the data
df <- read.csv("https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-freshwater-use-over-the-long-run.csv?v=1&csvType=full&useColumnShortNames=false")

# Fetch the metadata
metadata <- fromJSON("https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-freshwater-use-over-the-long-run.metadata.json?v=1&csvType=full&useColumnShortNames=false")
Stata
import delimited "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-freshwater-use-over-the-long-run.csv?v=1&csvType=full&useColumnShortNames=false", encoding("utf-8") clear