placestats

Basic sanitation vs. DTP3 immunisation

Holds up after adjusting for income

Across 185 countries, Basic sanitation and DTP3 immunisation rise and fall together at r = +0.52 (on a scale from −1 to +1, where 0 means no link). Comparing only countries with similar income (GDP per person) shrinks it to +0.20 (q = 0.049, allowing for the many pairs tested). Much of the first figure is that both measures rise with national income, but a weak positive link remains.

Comparing countries across the middle half of basic sanitation, 67% to 98.8% of population, dtp3 immunisation is better by 7.96% of children aged 12-23 months at the top of that range than the bottom. Comparing only countries with similar national income, the gap is 4.35% of children aged 12-23 months.

Link before adjusting (r)+0.516p = 5.7e-14 · 185 countries
After adjusting for national income+0.201p = 0.006 · likely range [+0.06, +0.34]
p, allowing for regions0.005standard error 0.046 · 7 regions
Check for luck (q)0.049across 12,497 pairs

How to read these.r runs from −1 (one goes up as the other goes down) to +1 (they rise together), and 0 means no link. Adjusting for national income means comparing countries with the same GDP per person, so differences in wealth can’t explain the link. Income is used in percentage terms, since an extra $1,000 means more to a poor country than to a rich one. p is how likely a link this strong would be if there were really none. Below 0.05 means it is unlikely to be chance. Very small values are written in short form: 1.1e-32 means a decimal point followed by 31 zeros and then 11, so very close to zero. The likely range is where the true figure probably lies, and a range that crosses zero means the link could easily be chance. Countries in the same region tend to resemble each other, so the third figure allows for that, which gives a fairer p. The standard error is the typical size of the error in r. Finally, testing this many pairs means some will look strong by luck alone. A q below 0.05 means this link is unlikely to be one of those.

Basic sanitation · % of populationlink with income +0.79 · high
DTP3 immunisation · % of children aged 12-23 monthslink with income +0.53 · moderate

“Link with income” is how closely each measure tracks GDP per person across countries, from −1 to +1.

Every country as a dot

Basic sanitation · % of population →DTP3 immunisation · % of children aged 12-23 months →10.4%100%39%99%Afghanistan: 54.5% of population, 59% of children aged 12-23 monthsAngola: 50.3% of population, 64% of children aged 12-23 monthsAlbania: 99.3% of population, 97% of children aged 12-23 monthsAndorra: 100% of population, 98% of children aged 12-23 monthsUnited Arab Emirates: 99.1% of population, 96% of children aged 12-23 monthsArgentina: 94.8% of population, 75% of children aged 12-23 monthsArmenia: 93.7% of population, 94% of children aged 12-23 monthsAntigua and Barbuda: 99.6% of population, 99% of children aged 12-23 monthsAustralia: 100% of population, 93% of children aged 12-23 monthsAustria: 100% of population, 85% of children aged 12-23 monthsAzerbaijan: 99% of population, 51% of children aged 12-23 monthsBurundi: 44.6% of population, 89% of children aged 12-23 monthsBelgium: 99.5% of population, 97% of children aged 12-23 monthsBenin: 22.2% of population, 63% of children aged 12-23 monthsBurkina Faso: 31.8% of population, 91% of children aged 12-23 monthsBangladesh: 67.6% of population, 97% of children aged 12-23 monthsBulgaria: 86.1% of population, 94% of children aged 12-23 monthsBahrain: 100% of population, 96% of children aged 12-23 monthsBahamas, The: 93.7% of population, 90% of children aged 12-23 monthsBosnia and Herzegovina: 95.4% of population, 79% of children aged 12-23 monthsBelarus: 99.7% of population, 98% of children aged 12-23 monthsBelize: 84.3% of population, 88% of children aged 12-23 monthsBolivia: 71.6% of population, 59% of children aged 12-23 monthsBrazil: 92.4% of population, 91% of children aged 12-23 monthsBarbados: 98.1% of population, 94% of children aged 12-23 monthsBrunei Darussalam: 100% of population, 99% of children aged 12-23 monthsBhutan: 86.8% of population, 98% of children aged 12-23 monthsBotswana: 72.1% of population, 95% of children aged 12-23 monthsCentral African Republic: 14% of population, 42% of children aged 12-23 monthsCanada: 98.6% of population, 92% of children aged 12-23 monthsSwitzerland: 99.9% of population, 96% of children aged 12-23 monthsChile: 100% of population, 95% of children aged 12-23 monthsChina: 97.3% of population, 97% of children aged 12-23 monthsCote d'Ivoire: 40.4% of population, 77% of children aged 12-23 monthsCameroon: 47.1% of population, 77% of children aged 12-23 monthsCongo, Dem. Rep.: 16.3% of population, 65% of children aged 12-23 monthsCongo, Rep.: 20.6% of population, 78% of children aged 12-23 monthsColombia: 96.6% of population, 89% of children aged 12-23 monthsComoros: 57.2% of population, 75% of children aged 12-23 monthsCabo Verde: 83.1% of population, 93% of children aged 12-23 monthsCosta Rica: 98.8% of population, 99% of children aged 12-23 monthsCyprus: 99.5% of population, 94% of children aged 12-23 monthsCzechia: 99.1% of population, 86% of children aged 12-23 monthsGermany: 99.2% of population, 89% of children aged 12-23 monthsDjibouti: 67% of population, 77% of children aged 12-23 monthsDominica: 80.4% of population, 90% of children aged 12-23 monthsDenmark: 99.6% of population, 96% of children aged 12-23 monthsDominican Republic: 90.1% of population, 87% of children aged 12-23 monthsAlgeria: 85.9% of population, 92% of children aged 12-23 monthsEcuador: 91.2% of population, 70% of children aged 12-23 monthsEgypt, Arab Rep.: 97.1% of population, 97% of children aged 12-23 monthsSpain: 99.9% of population, 94% of children aged 12-23 monthsEstonia: 99% of population, 81% of children aged 12-23 monthsEthiopia: 10.4% of population, 73% of children aged 12-23 monthsFinland: 99.4% of population, 91% of children aged 12-23 monthsFiji: 92.8% of population, 94% of children aged 12-23 monthsFrance: 98.6% of population, 96% of children aged 12-23 monthsMicronesia, Fed. Sts.: 90.5% of population, 76% of children aged 12-23 monthsGabon: 57.4% of population, 61% of children aged 12-23 monthsUnited Kingdom: 99.1% of population, 92% of children aged 12-23 monthsGeorgia: 90.7% of population, 86% of children aged 12-23 monthsGhana: 31.6% of population, 95% of children aged 12-23 monthsGuinea: 32.6% of population, 63% of children aged 12-23 monthsGambia, The: 48.2% of population, 80% of children aged 12-23 monthsGuinea-Bissau: 28.9% of population, 68% of children aged 12-23 monthsEquatorial Guinea: 66.3% of population, 68% of children aged 12-23 monthsGreece: 99% of population, 95% of children aged 12-23 monthsGrenada: 92.6% of population, 93% of children aged 12-23 monthsGuatemala: 71.2% of population, 81% of children aged 12-23 monthsGuyana: 91.3% of population, 98% of children aged 12-23 monthsHonduras: 87.7% of population, 75% of children aged 12-23 monthsCroatia: 95.8% of population, 92% of children aged 12-23 monthsHaiti: 29.1% of population, 60% of children aged 12-23 monthsHungary: 98% of population, 99% of children aged 12-23 monthsIndonesia: 88.2% of population, 78% of children aged 12-23 monthsIndia: 83.4% of population, 94% of children aged 12-23 monthsIreland: 89.7% of population, 92% of children aged 12-23 monthsIran, Islamic Rep.: 90.5% of population, 98% of children aged 12-23 monthsIraq: 98.5% of population, 90% of children aged 12-23 monthsIceland: 98.8% of population, 94% of children aged 12-23 monthsIsrael: 99.9% of population, 98% of children aged 12-23 monthsItaly: 99.9% of population, 94% of children aged 12-23 monthsJamaica: 91.6% of population, 99% of children aged 12-23 monthsJordan: 96.4% of population, 96% of children aged 12-23 monthsJapan: 99.9% of population, 99% of children aged 12-23 monthsKazakhstan: 97.9% of population, 98% of children aged 12-23 monthsKenya: 40.9% of population, 91% of children aged 12-23 monthsKyrgyz Republic: 98.5% of population, 85% of children aged 12-23 monthsCambodia: 83.3% of population, 83% of children aged 12-23 monthsKiribati: 45.2% of population, 94% of children aged 12-23 monthsSt. Kitts and Nevis: 95% of population, 97% of children aged 12-23 monthsKorea, Rep.: 99.7% of population, 97% of children aged 12-23 monthsKuwait: 100% of population, 99% of children aged 12-23 monthsLao PDR: 88.7% of population, 67% of children aged 12-23 monthsLebanon: 99.2% of population, 49% of children aged 12-23 monthsLiberia: 23.3% of population, 83% of children aged 12-23 monthsLibya: 88.5% of population, 86% of children aged 12-23 monthsSt. Lucia: 83.4% of population, 99% of children aged 12-23 monthsSri Lanka: 95.4% of population, 97% of children aged 12-23 monthsLesotho: 47.9% of population, 86% of children aged 12-23 monthsLithuania: 96.4% of population, 89% of children aged 12-23 monthsLuxembourg: 97.6% of population, 99% of children aged 12-23 monthsLatvia: 92.5% of population, 97% of children aged 12-23 monthsMorocco: 87.8% of population, 96% of children aged 12-23 monthsMoldova: 86.9% of population, 86% of children aged 12-23 monthsMadagascar: 15.4% of population, 60% of children aged 12-23 monthsMaldives: 99.7% of population, 99% of children aged 12-23 monthsMexico: 93% of population, 78% of children aged 12-23 monthsMarshall Islands: 79% of population, 85% of children aged 12-23 monthsNorth Macedonia: 99% of population, 89% of children aged 12-23 monthsMali: 47.8% of population, 82% of children aged 12-23 monthsMalta: 100% of population, 97% of children aged 12-23 monthsMyanmar: 74.2% of population, 71% of children aged 12-23 monthsMontenegro: 97.8% of population, 81% of children aged 12-23 monthsMongolia: 74.3% of population, 96% of children aged 12-23 monthsMozambique: 38.6% of population, 70% of children aged 12-23 monthsMauritania: 58.7% of population, 86% of children aged 12-23 monthsMauritius: 97.4% of population, 93% of children aged 12-23 monthsMalawi: 49.2% of population, 91% of children aged 12-23 monthsMalaysia: 96% of population, 93% of children aged 12-23 monthsNamibia: 38.7% of population, 74% of children aged 12-23 monthsNiger: 16.3% of population, 86% of children aged 12-23 monthsNigeria: 47.9% of population, 67% of children aged 12-23 monthsNetherlands: 97.7% of population, 91% of children aged 12-23 monthsNorway: 98% of population, 97% of children aged 12-23 monthsNepal: 86% of population, 97% of children aged 12-23 monthsNaoero: 71.3% of population, 99% of children aged 12-23 monthsNew Zealand: 100% of population, 89% of children aged 12-23 monthsOman: 99.3% of population, 99% of children aged 12-23 monthsPakistan: 71.9% of population, 87% of children aged 12-23 monthsPanama: 89.1% of population, 72% of children aged 12-23 monthsPeru: 78.8% of population, 80% of children aged 12-23 monthsPhilippines: 87.2% of population, 71% of children aged 12-23 monthsPalau: 99% of population, 97% of children aged 12-23 monthsPapua New Guinea: 23.6% of population, 42% of children aged 12-23 monthsPoland: 99% of population, 94% of children aged 12-23 monthsPortugal: 99.7% of population, 99% of children aged 12-23 monthsParaguay: 95.9% of population, 80% of children aged 12-23 monthsWest Bank and Gaza: 99.4% of population, 88% of children aged 12-23 monthsQatar: 99.9% of population, 96% of children aged 12-23 monthsRomania: 90.5% of population, 79% of children aged 12-23 monthsRussian Federation: 92.2% of population, 97% of children aged 12-23 monthsRwanda: 81.3% of population, 98% of children aged 12-23 monthsSaudi Arabia: 97.6% of population, 97% of children aged 12-23 monthsSudan: 65.7% of population, 39% of children aged 12-23 monthsSenegal: 62.5% of population, 91% of children aged 12-23 monthsSingapore: 100% of population, 97% of children aged 12-23 monthsSolomon Islands: 34.6% of population, 87% of children aged 12-23 monthsSierra Leone: 24.9% of population, 91% of children aged 12-23 monthsEl Salvador: 88% of population, 95% of children aged 12-23 monthsSan Marino: 100% of population, 88% of children aged 12-23 monthsSomalia, Fed. Rep.: 44.5% of population, 70% of children aged 12-23 monthsSerbia: 97.9% of population, 95% of children aged 12-23 monthsSao Tome and Principe: 48.7% of population, 87% of children aged 12-23 monthsSuriname: 90% of population, 69% of children aged 12-23 monthsSlovak Republic: 97.5% of population, 96% of children aged 12-23 monthsSlovenia: 98.3% of population, 90% of children aged 12-23 monthsSweden: 98.7% of population, 96% of children aged 12-23 monthsEswatini: 64.5% of population, 84% of children aged 12-23 monthsSeychelles: 99.7% of population, 94% of children aged 12-23 monthsSyrian Arab Republic: 95.6% of population, 73% of children aged 12-23 monthsChad: 13.1% of population, 68% of children aged 12-23 monthsTogo: 25.2% of population, 90% of children aged 12-23 monthsThailand: 99.4% of population, 92% of children aged 12-23 monthsTajikistan: 96% of population, 97% of children aged 12-23 monthsTurkmenistan: 99.7% of population, 98% of children aged 12-23 monthsTimor-Leste: 72.9% of population, 83% of children aged 12-23 monthsTonga: 93.9% of population, 99% of children aged 12-23 monthsTrinidad and Tobago: 94.2% of population, 92% of children aged 12-23 monthsTunisia: 98.5% of population, 97% of children aged 12-23 monthsTurkiye: 99.3% of population, 99% of children aged 12-23 monthsTuvalu: 89.7% of population, 94% of children aged 12-23 monthsTanzania: 37.2% of population, 83% of children aged 12-23 monthsUganda: 23.9% of population, 91% of children aged 12-23 monthsUkraine: 97.7% of population, 88% of children aged 12-23 monthsUruguay: 99.2% of population, 94% of children aged 12-23 monthsUnited States: 99.6% of population, 94% of children aged 12-23 monthsUzbekistan: 96.5% of population, 90% of children aged 12-23 monthsSt. Vincent and the Grenadines: 89.7% of population, 99% of children aged 12-23 monthsViet Nam: 95.4% of population, 97% of children aged 12-23 monthsVanuatu: 47.8% of population, 71% of children aged 12-23 monthsSamoa: 97.1% of population, 85% of children aged 12-23 monthsSouth Africa: 77.4% of population, 74% of children aged 12-23 monthsZambia: 37.5% of population, 91% of children aged 12-23 monthsZimbabwe: 34.6% of population, 91% of children aged 12-23 monthsAZEBRNCAFGHAJPNKWTLBNMDGPNGSDNSLEUGA

best-fit line line after adjusting

Four ways to measure the link

MethodrpCountries
Standard (Pearson), not adjusted+0.5165.7e-14185
By rank (Spearman), not adjusted+0.5486.5e-16185
Standard (Pearson), adjusted for national income+0.2010.006185
By rank (Spearman), adjusted for national income+0.2410.001185

The rank version uses only each country’s place in line, from lowest to highest, so a few extreme countries count for less. The adjusted and unadjusted versions use the same 185 countries: those that report both measures and GDP per person. So the gap between them comes from the adjustment, not from a change in which countries are counted. Drop in the size of r after adjusting: +0.315 (a minus sign means it grew).

How solid is it?

Leaving out one country at a time, r ranges from +0.167 (without PNG) to +0.240 (without LBN). The bar above shows that range on a scale from −1 to +1, with the solid line at the full result. The single country that moves r most: LBN (+0.039).

Within each region

Countries are not separate, unrelated cases, and neighbors share a lot. A link that holds inside each region is far more believable than one that shows up only when comparing regions.

nr
East Asia & Pacific29+0.32
Europe & Central Asia50+0.07
Latin America & Caribbean30+0.32
Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan22+0.14
Sub-Saharan Africa46+0.16

By income third

If the link shows up only in the richest third of countries, it is a feature of rich countries, not a general pattern.

nr
Poorest third62+0.19
Middle third61+0.24
Richest third62+0.33

By largest religious group

Countries grouped by a label they share, such as main religion, rather than by a number. Groups of fewer than twelve countries are not shown. These groups differ in income, region and history all at once. So a gap between them is a place to start asking questions, not an answer.

nr
Christians107+0.28
Muslims49+0.01

By last european coloniser

Countries grouped by a label they share, such as main religion, rather than by a number. Groups of fewer than twelve countries are not shown. These groups differ in income, region and history all at once. So a gap between them is a place to start asking questions, not an answer.

nr
France25+0.08
Never a European colony21+0.14
Spain19+0.51
United Kingdom63+0.15

Without outliers (countries far outside the middle half of countries on either measure, by more than one and a half times the width of that middle half): r = +0.233 after dropping 10 countries.

Two series, one country

Both measures over the years for one country you pick. The two charts are stacked so they share only the years along the bottom.

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Over time, within countries

Everything above compares countries with each other at one moment. This section compares each country only with itself over 25years. So a link here can’t come from anything about a country that stays the same, such as its history, geography, institutions or culture.

The link shows up within countries over time (r = +0.132) but mostly disappears in year-to-year changes (r = +0.009). That points to slow trends particular to each country, not the two measures moving together from year to year.

Across countries (adjusted)+0.201for comparison
Within countries+0.191each country vs itself
…and vs the same year elsewhere+0.132q = 0.026 · 192 countries
Year-on-year changes+0.009q = 0.759
Read with care.
  • Almost all of this indicator's variation is between countries, not within them, so the within-country estimate rests on a small part of the data.

4,687 country-years (one country in one year), 192 countries, 2000–2024, about 24 years each on average. Share of the variation that happens within countries over time: 5% for Basic sanitation, 24% for DTP3 immunisation. The margins of error allow for each country appearing many times, and for each year’s value being close to the year before.

Year-to-year changes are a cautious test, not a final answer. Looking only at changes from one year to the next removes each country’s own trends. But it also makes measurement mistakes louder, which pulls the results toward zero. A near-zero result here is weak evidence of no link, not proof.

With one measure years behind the other

0.30−0.3-100+10years DTP3 immunisation trails Basic sanitation →lag -10: r = 0.244 (n = 4,574)lag -9: r = 0.250 (n = 4,608)lag -8: r = 0.247 (n = 4,637)lag -7: r = 0.241 (n = 4,649)lag -6: r = 0.239 (n = 4,656)lag -5: r = 0.231 (n = 4,662)lag -4: r = 0.215 (n = 4,668)lag -3: r = 0.197 (n = 4,674)lag -2: r = 0.183 (n = 4,679)lag -1: r = 0.159 (n = 4,684)lag +0: r = 0.132 (n = 4,687)lag +1: r = 0.118 (n = 4,511)lag +2: r = 0.094 (n = 4,332)lag +3: r = 0.071 (n = 4,151)lag +4: r = 0.059 (n = 3,968)lag +5: r = 0.045 (n = 3,784)lag +6: r = 0.030 (n = 3,599)lag +7: r = 0.010 (n = 3,412)lag +8: r = -0.014 (n = 3,218)lag +9: r = -0.025 (n = 3,027)lag +10: r = -0.028 (n = 2,832)

Same year (lag 0): +0.132. A peak away from zero does not show which comes first. These series change slowly — this year’s value is close to last year’s. That makes the curve smooth and nearly symmetric, whatever produced the data. Even a sharp peak at one lag (a gap of some years) would not prove that one measure changes the other.

The largest value on this curve (+0.25 at lag -9) is higher than the same-year one by 0.12. That gap is not a finding. It is the largest of 21 closely related estimates, and picking the biggest of many tests always makes it look bigger. That is exactly why nothing on this site is ranked or chosen by lag.

The data


% of population
% of children aged 12-23 months		Years
San Marino SMR100%88%2024
Singapore SGP100%97%2024
New Zealand NZL100%89%2024
Malta MLT100%97%2024
Kuwait KWT100%99%2024
Brunei Darussalam BRN100%99%2024
Bahrain BHR100%96%2024
Australia AUS100%93%2024
Andorra AND100%98%2024
Chile CHL100%95%2024
Austria AUT100%85%2024
Japan JPN99.9%99%2024
Qatar QAT99.9%96%2024
Israel ISR99.9%98%2024
Spain ESP99.9%94%2024

World Bank, World Development Indicators
World Bank, World Development Indicators

Sources

Basic sanitation

People using at least basic sanitation services (% of population)

World Bank · CC BY 4.0 · updated quarterly

DTP3 immunisation

Immunization, DPT (% of children ages 12-23 months)

WHO and UNICEF · CC BY 4.0 · updated quarterly

Three doses of the diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough (pertussis) vaccine, the standard measure of a routine vaccination system. Measles coverage is published the same way and moves with it almost exactly, so only one of the two is here.

How this was computed

Data used: most recent value in 2010-2025; values come from 2016–2024. To adjust for income, each measure is first predicted from GDP per person (in percentage terms, on a log scale) with a straight-line fit. Only what is left over is then compared. This is called a partial correlation. The line is drawn the standard way (ordinary least squares), which picks the line that comes closest to all the countries at once. The error margins allow for countries in the same region resembling each other, using 7 World Bank regions. The q-value corrects for testing all 12,497 pairs at once, using the Benjamini–Hochberg method. Underlying data last updated DYB 2024. How the country data works · explore Basic sanitation and DTP3 immunisation

This page shows that two measures go together. It does not show that Basic sanitation changes DTP3 immunisation, or the reverse. These figures also describe countries, not individual people. See the ecological fallacy.

More links with Basic sanitation or DTP3 immunisation