Where Data Tells the Story
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Globally, 69% of all freshwater withdrawals go toward agriculture, making farming the largest consumer of the planet’s most vital resource.
This breakdown comes from FAO’s AQUASTAT database, the UN’s global information system on water and agriculture. The data reflects global freshwater withdrawals, not total water use (which includes recycled and non-renewable sources). The figures are rounded as follows:
This equates to a total of 3.918 trillion cubic meters annually (over 300 cubic km larger than the entirety of Lake Huron).
Regionally, the story is a bit more nuanced.
Some Asian countries, like India and Pakistan, use over 90% of their water for agriculture, while the trend is more commercial-focused in the Americas and Europe.
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