Indian states ranking by prevalence of open defecation

States and union
territories of India
ordered by

This is a list of Indian states and territories by the percentage of households which are open defecation free, that is those that have access to sanitation facilities, in both urban and rural areas along with data from the Swachh Bharat Mission (under the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation), National Family Health Survey, and the National Sample Survey (under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation).[1] The reliability of this information can be questioned, as it has been observed that there is still open defecation in some states claimed "ODF".[2][3]

More Indians living in villages owned a latrine in 2018 than four years ago, yet 44% of them still defecate in the open, according to a survey covering Rajasthan, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh that was released on January 4, 2019.[4] These four states together contain two-fifths of India's rural population and reported high open defecation rates, over 87% in 2016.[4]

By 2016, three states/UTs namely Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala had been declared ODF.[5]

Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, two states that had declared themselves open defecation-free, are yet to achieve that goal. In Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh 63% and 35% respectively were estimated to be defecating in the open.[6]

Household toilet construction increased from 43.79% in 2014, to 65.74% in 2016, to 98.53 in 2018.[1] On 2 October 2019, all 35 states and union territories were declared defecation free.[7]

  1. ^ a b "Swachh Bharat Mission dashboard". Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation. Archived from the original on 7 February 2021.
  2. ^ Agarwal, Shivangi (13 July 2021). "Is India really open-defecation-free? Here's what numbers say". Down To Earth. Retrieved 2021-09-11.
  3. ^ "Is rural India 100% open defecation-free like Swachh Bharat data concludes?". The Hindu. 2020-01-02. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2021-09-11.
  4. ^ a b Yadavar, Swagata (2019-01-07). "After 4 Years Of Swachh Bharat, Open Defecation Down 26 Percentage Points, But Toilet Use Does Not Match Construction Spree". IndiaSpend. Retrieved 2021-09-11.
  5. ^ "After Sikkim, Kerala, Himachal, These 4 States To Be Open Defecation Free". NDTV Swachh India. PTI. 2016-11-04. Retrieved 2021-09-11.
  6. ^ Dutta, Saptarshi (2018-09-24). "Four Years Of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan: Rajasthan Is ODF But 100 Per Cent Toilet Usage Remains A Challenge". NDTV Swachh India. Retrieved 2021-09-11.
  7. ^ Kuchay, Bilal (2 October 2019). "Modi declares India open defecation free, claim questioned". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 2021-09-11.