March 22, 2023

Angola is the 39th largest bottled water market in the world, with sales of around US$600 million in 2021, ahead of Portugal, according to a United Nations study on the bottled natural water market.

E This study, carried out by the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health in 109 countries, reveals the 50 countries in the world that most spend and consume bottled water and concludes that the 270 billion dollars (250 thousand million euros) spent by consumers in 2021 would be enough to ensure the availability of safe tap water in much of the world.

“The report shows that bottled water has evolved into a major economic sector in just five decades”, which is now worth 270 billion dollars and produces around 350 billion liters, “being one of the most dynamic in the world, growing faster than any other food market and expected to exceed $500 billion [463 mil milhões de euros] between 2025 and 2030”, points out in the report.

Entitled ‘Bottled Water Industry: Analysis of Impacts and Trends’, the study concludes that Angola occupies the 39th position among the markets where, in 2021, more was spent on the purchase of bottled water, around US$600 million (556 million euros), out of a total of 1.5 million liters consumed.

Heading the list of the biggest markets is the United States of America, with spending of 63.3 billion dollars, around 58.7 billion euros, followed by China, with 49.1 billion dollars, or 45.5 billion euros, and Indonesia, a country where 21.9 billion dollars were spent, close to 20 billion euros, on bottled water in 2021.

Brazil appears in 13th place, with an expenditure of US$3.8 billion (3.5 billion euros), and is the only Portuguese-speaking country, apart from Angola, to be among the 50 largest markets for bottled water.

The document also shows that 1.5 million liters of bottled water were consumed in Angola, in that year, the 39th largest market, and around one million liters in Portugal, the 44th largest market in terms of consumption. , while Brazil is the 21st largest market, with around 4 billion liters consumed.

“The report shows that bottled water is widely consumed both in the North and in the South, although prices are higher than tap water” (which, in the case of Angola, either does not exist or is not drinkable) points out in the document, which points to Germany as the largest European market and Mexico as the largest market in Latin America.

“While in the North, bottled water is usually perceived as a tastier and healthier product than tap water and is more of a luxury than a necessity, in the South bottled water sales are mainly driven by the lack of potable water supplies. by public authorities”, concludes the document.

Another of the conclusions concerns the pollution resulting from plastic bottles, pointing out that “the world currently generates around 600 billion plastic bottles of garbage, which are not recycled but placed in landfills or simply in the trash”, despite the increase of social awareness regarding this type of pollution.

In addition, the document concludes, “there are estimates that point out that less than half of what the world pays every year for bottled water would be enough to guarantee drinking water from the tap for hundreds of millions of people, for years”.

Angola is the fourth country in the world where it is cheaper to fill a fuel tank. While in Europe – and in Portugal, in particular – motorists opt for utility vehicles and take fuel consumption into account at the time of purchase, in Angola, a country endowed with a car park where robust jeeps and ‘pickups’ abound, this does not seems to be a concern, since it is almost always cheaper to “water” the car than to quench the thirst of the People.

While the average price of 1.5 liters of bottled water is around 180 kwanzas (34 cents), a liter of gasoline costs 160 kwanzas (30 cents), that is, five times less than in Portugal, according to the Global Petrol Prices website , with data updated in January 2023.

Potable water? What is that?

C Around half of Angolan households (47%) do not have access to sources of drinking water and many children spend hours walking daily to access that liquid, according to UNICEF.

According to the Angolan Minister of Energy and Water, João Baptista Borges, around 60% of the population in Angola, estimated at over 32 million inhabitants, has access to drinking water.

João Baptista Borges said, in 2018, on the sidelines of the 8th World Water Forum that took place in Brazil, that the main concern of the Executive was to increase the access rate in urban areas, which should reach 85%, in the next five years. For the population in rural areas, the target would be to reach a rate of 80%.

A statement issued that year by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in reference to World Water Day, referred that due to the lack of sources of drinking water, many children do not have the opportunity to go to school.

According to UNICEF, “this journey can be dangerous”, taking into account that the utensils used to carry water by children can usually weigh around 20 kilos.

“For some, this daily routine of collecting water can consume their lives. They fear attacks and fear walking long distances, and they miss the opportunity to go to school or play with friends,” reads the statement.

In times of crisis and instability, UNICEF provides access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene for children around the world, even in hard-to-reach places, underlines the document.

At least 263 million people in the world spend more than 30 minutes commuting to and from collecting water. In Angola, this occurs with 19% of households in urban areas and 43% of households in rural areas, among those without access to indoor drinking water.

However, UNICEF highlighted that there was an evolution in access to water for households in Angola between 2015-2016 compared to 2008-2009, increasing by 12 percentage points (42% to 54%), growth that was recorded mainly in urban areas.

Angola is, of the nine Portuguese-speaking States, the country with the lowest access to drinking water “per capita”, where only 44% of the population obtains it easily, with Portugal (100%) and Brazil (97%) at the opposite pole. As far as the MPLA kingdom is concerned, everything is normal. Why on earth will the 20 million poor need clean water?

In a Joint United Nations Monitoring Program report, prepared by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO), the drinking water, sanitation and hygiene situations in more than 200 countries and territories.

The document compares the evolution registered in each of the nine Portuguese-speaking countries – Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe and Timor-Leste –, also taking into account the corresponding increase in population.

In the framework of this analysis, reference is also made to the increase in population in urban areas, access to water that is more than 30 minutes away from the place of residence, unimproved water and water from the surface, such as rivers and lakes, among other sources.

In terms of access to piped drinking water, Cape Verde ranks third among Portuguese-speaking countries (increased from 78% to 86%), ahead of São Tomé and Príncipe (from 67% to 80%), Timor-Leste (no data was available but now has 0%), Guinea-Bissau (from 53% to 69%) and Mozambique (from 22% to 47%). Angola rose from 38% to 41%, while Brazil rose from 94% to 97% and Portugal from 99% to 100%.

The report stresses that the data are susceptible to some “relativity”, taking into account the size of the countries, the total population and the degree of development of each one of them.

With the exception of Portugal and Brazil, all other Portuguese-speaking countries, to a greater or lesser extent, still have pockets of the population who can only get water more than 30 minutes from their place of residence.

The study also shows the relationship between statistical data and the evolution of the urban population in the nine Portuguese-speaking states, which is always growing, with Brazil “leading” this table, with city dwellers rising, in 15 years, by 81% to 86%.

Cape Verde is the second Portuguese-speaking country with the highest urban population growth (increased from 53% to 66%), followed by São Tomé and Príncipe (from 53% to 65%), Portugal (from 56% to 63%), Guinea- Bissau (from 37% to 49%), Angola (from 32% to 44%), Equatorial Guinea (from 39% to 40%), Timor-Leste (from 24% to 33%) and Mozambique (from 29% to 32 %). Sheet 8 with Lusa

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