A water-stressed continent

The map below shows the evolution of projected water stress* levels in 2030, 2050 and 2080 under a business-as-usual** scenario.

Low Low to medium Medium to high High Extremely high

(Please use a modern browser to see the interactive version of this visualization)

*Water stress is the ratio of water demand to renewable supply and measures the competition over local water resources. **The business-as-usual scenario corresponds to a Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) of 7.0 and a Shared Socio-Economic Pathway (SSP) of 3, with regional rivalries, slow economic growth and high challenges to climate mitigation and adaptation.

Source: World Resources Institute Aqueduct 4.0 Giovanna Coi/POLITICO