The six pie charts compare the percentage of water used for agricultural, industrial and domestic purposes in different parts of the world.
Overall, it can be seen that agriculture is the main consumer of water in most regions, especially in Central Asia, Africa, South East Asia and South America. In contrast, industrial use is the largest in North America and Europe. Domestic use takes the smallest proportion in all areas.
In more detail, Central Asia records the highest figure for agricultural water use at 88%, followed by Africa at 84% and South East Asia at 81%. South America also has a high proportion at 71%. In these regions, water consumption for industrial and domestic needs remains very low, between 5% and 19%.
North America and Europe show a very different trend. In North America, 48% of water is used for industry, which is slightly higher than agriculture at 39%, while 13% goes to households. Similarly, Europe spends the largest share of water on industry (53%), compared with 32% for agriculture and 15% for domestic use.
To sum up, while most regions of the world rely heavily on water for agriculture, the developed regions such as North America and Europe use more water for industry. Domestic use, on the other hand, is relatively small everywhere.