The bar chart illustrates the volume of water consumed worldwide by the agricultural, industrial and domestic sectors between 1910 and 2010, measured in cubic kilometres (km³).
Overall, water consumption increased substantially in all three sectors over the century. Agriculture consistently accounted for by far the largest share of water use and experienced the most dramatic growth, while domestic consumption remained the lowest throughout the period.
In 1910, agricultural water use stood at 500 km³, compared with just 20 km³ for industry and 10 km³ for households. Over the following four decades, agricultural consumption rose steadily to 1,000 km³ in 1950, whereas industrial and domestic use increased only modestly, reaching 40 km³ and 20 km³ respectively.
From 1950 onwards, the growth became considerably more pronounced. Agricultural water use climbed from 1,000 km³ to 1,500 km³ in 1970 before accelerating further to 3,000 km³ by 2010, representing a sixfold increase compared with the initial figure. Industrial consumption followed a similar upward trajectory, although on a much smaller scale, rising sharply from 50 km³ in 1960 to 1,500 km³ at the end of the period. Meanwhile, domestic water use grew gradually from 25 km³ in 1960 to 150 km³ in 2010.
By 2010, agriculture remained the dominant consumer of water at 3,000 km³, exactly double the figure for industry and twenty times higher than domestic usage. This indicates that agricultural activities continued to place the greatest demand on global water resources despite significant increases in the other two sectors.