New data on water insecurity points to risks of migration, civil unrest and hunger in the Western Hemisphere

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New data on water insecurity points to risks of migration, civil unrest and hunger in the Western Hemisphere

Water insecurity in US matches Venezuela with 12.9 million experiencing water challenges

Download the 2026 WISE Americas report here

EVANSTON, Ill., --- A new study of 17 countries in the Americas, including the U.S., found that no country or income group is immune to water insecurity, and that the prevalence of water insecurity varies widely within and across the Americas.

The study, conducted by researchers at Northwestern University, Gallup and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), amongst others, uses survey data collected from 27,000 individuals about their experiences with water.

"These new data are giving us an unprecedented view into how water is - or is not -showing up in people's lives," said senior author Sera Young professor of anthropology and global health at Northwestern. "The better we understand how water insecurity manifests at the individual and household levels, the better decision makers can set the conditions to ensure stable, affordable and safe access in the face of diverse and expanding challenges," Young said.

Young is co-director of the Center for Water Research, and a faculty fellow at the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern and lead of water, nutrition and health equity at United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health.

In a video released for World Water Day (March 22), the authors explain how the Water Insecurity Experiences (WISE) Scales measure the human experience of water insecurity. They also analyze newly released data describing the state of water security across North, Central and South America and the Caribbean.

"Today, countries and communities around the world are grappling with water crises that threaten the lives and livelihoods of billions," said study co-author Zane Swanson, deputy director of CSIS. "This is exacerbated by shocks from shifting and unpredictable weather patterns, aging infrastructure, overextraction of limited groundwater resources and wide-reaching conflict."

Highlights from the data include:

• Proximity to freshwater does not equate to water security, such as in Peru and Venezuela. Together with Honduras, these three countries report the highest prevalence of water insecurity in the Western Hemisphere (Peru 48.2%; Honduras 47.2%; Venezuela: 44.9%.
• Interruptions to water supply were the most common form of water insecurity in the U.S. and across the Americas. Jamaica (78%), Venezuela (77%) and Honduras (73%) reported the most water interruptions in the Americas.
• Anger over water insecurity was highest in Venezuela, with 60% of respondents reporting anger. This is likely due to a combination of poor water infrastructure maintenance and energy shortages that compromise the ability to pump water, issues still at play in Venezuela's current political and economic climate.
• The majority of Jamaican women (77.3%) and Jamaican men (71.6%) reported water insecurity, even before Hurricane Melissa. The hurricane caused $9 billion in damages, including to water infrastructure.
• The nations with the highest number of individuals experiencing moderate-to-high water insecurity are Brazil (34.4 million), followed by Mexico (21.4 million), Peru (16.8 million) and Colombia (14.3 million). Venezuela and the United States each have 12.9 million people who are water insecure.
• Nearly 13 million people in the U.S. (3.7%) experienced moderate or high water insecurity (roughly equivalent to the population of Pennsylvania); and 10% of Americans reported anger over water challenges in the prior year.

Young explained the types of water challenges the survey reveals.

"Most data focus on the supply side - whether there is water to be had, and how that water reaches people. The WISE Scales get at water from the users' perspective - and if available water is reliably reaching people for basic needs," she said.

The Americas data were released to coincide with World Water Day (March 22) and are a sample of the available global data on experiences of water security. A comprehensive report on the global data will be released later in the year to coincide with the United Nations Water Conference being co-convened by Senegal and the United Arab Emirates Dec. 2 to 4.

About the WISE Scales
The Water Insecurity Experiences (WISE) Scales were conceived by anthropologist and global health researcher Sera Young in 2013, to quantify experiences of water insecurity among a research cohort of pregnant and postpartum women in Western Kenya. In 2015, she began extensive exploratory work to identify water insecurity-related experiences that were potentially applicable to a wide range of geographic and cultural contexts around the world. From 2017 to 18, Northwestern University, in partnership with collaborators from around the globe, surveyed thousands of households about their problems with water access, use and reliability in 29 sites located in 23 low- and middle-income countries, creating a final tool of just 12 items that was brief and that could comparably measure household water insecurity across social, cultural, infrastructural and ecological contexts. Published in 2019, the Household WISE Scale, and its Individual-level counterpart, the IWISE Scale, are currently being implemented by researchers, NGOs and government agencies globally, including by the governments of Mexico, Uganda and Malawi. An additional four-question scale has since been developed for use in more compressed timeframes. Between 2020 and 2024, Gallup World Poll used the IWISE Survey to collect nationally representative data in 80 countries.