SWS: 4% of PH households still have no toilets; 6% share facilities

MANILA, Philippines — There are still four percent of households in the country without any toilets while another six percent have to share toilets with other households, a survey from the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed.

According to SWS’ report released on Monday — in commemoration of the recently concluded World Toilet Day — 90 percent of Philippine households have their own toilet systems, comprising of 88 percent with own toilets and two percent with both own and shared toilets.

Of the households with either common or private toilets, the majority or 82 percent still use pour-flush systems where users would have to flush the human waste by pouring water into the toilet system, seven percent have flush systems, and two percent have other toilet types.

The survey, SWS said, is still in line with monitoring local households’ water and sanitation systems to ensure good health and safety.

“This past week was celebrated World Toilet Day. This focus is important because it calls for action to tackle the global sanitation crisis and achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6: Water and sanitation for all by 2030,” SWS explained.

“As part of its monitoring of the Filipinos’ quality of life, SWS regularly assesses respondent households’ water and sanitation status based on the type of toilet they own or access,” it added.

World Toilet Day is celebrated every November 9 to help raise awareness of the importance of clean sanitation, which is part of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal.

The highest percentage of households with their own toilets can be found in Metro Manila with 93 percent, followed by the rest of Luzon with 92 percent, and then Visayas and Mindanao with 88 percent each.

Shared toilets are more common in the Visayas with seven percent, then in Luzon (six percent), and Mindanao and Metro Manila (five percent).

The study also revealed that Mindanao has the highest percentage of households with neither shared nor private toilets at seven percent, followed by the Visayas’ four percent, Metro Manila’s three percent, and Luzon’s two percent.

Interestingly though, the percentage of households with own toilets in urban areas compared to rural counterparts do not vary much, with 89 percent and 92 percent, respectively.

“The same is true for households without a toilet, at 5% in rural areas and 3% in urban areas.  However, households with shared toilets are twice as many in urban areas (8%) than in rural areas (4%),” SWS said.

As expected, the construction and use of common toilets are more prevalent among financially poorer households — with the survey firm pointing out that none of class A, B, C households have shared toilets.

“Households with their own toilets are widespread across socio-economic class: the percentage is highest among class ABC (96%), followed by class D or the masa (92%), and class E (80%),” SWS relayed.

“However, households with shared toilets are more prevalent among class E (14%) than among class D (4%). None of the sample class ABC households have shared toilets,” it stressed.

According to SWS, the survey was not commissioned by any party and was done based on their own initiative.  Survey results were obtained through face to face interviews last December 13-16, 2019 — before the lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic started.

A total of 1,200 adults aged 18 years old and above were interviewed, with 300 each from the locales of Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.  SWS says it maintains sampling error margins of ±3% for national percentages and ±6% each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. [ac]