The charts illustrate how the world’s water is distributed and compare the proportion of water use in three distinct countries: Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Canada.
Overall, the vast majority of the Earth’s water is salt water, and most fresh water is locked in ice and glaciers. Regarding usage, agriculture dominates water consumption in both Egypt and Saudi Arabia, whereas industrial usage is the primary water consumption in Canada.
In the pie charts, it is clear that salt water accounts for 97% of all water, leaving only 3% as fresh water. In terms of fresh water, ice and glaciers store just under four fifths (79%), while two in ten (20%) is groundwater, and a tiny fraction (1%) is surface water.
In Egypt, agriculture consumes just four fifths of water, while domestic and industrial uses are minimal. Saudi Arabia shows a similar pattern, with just over 10% for domestic use, but agriculture is slightly lower than in Egypt. In contrast, Canada, although allocating roughly 10% to agriculture, has a noticeably greater share for industry compared with the other two nations at approximately eight in ten.