Singapore has emerged top in the world for its provision of safe and clean drinking water.

The latest ranking of 180 countries is by Yale University.

Singapore's score: 99.9

The 2024 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) ranked countries on their sanitation and water standards.

This is based on the likely health impact from exposure to unsafe sanitation and unsafe drinking water.

The report is published once every two years.

Singapore scored 99.9 in the EPI report for the sanitation and drinking water portion.

This result beat Italy (98.2), the UK (98.2), Switzerland (98.0) and Germany (97.9).

Malaysia scored 54.0.

Madagascar (12.9), Niger (12.2), Lesotho (9.4), the Central African Republic (8.9), and Chad (4.3) took the bottom spots.

The report also acknowledged Singapore as "a global leader in the treatment and reuse of wastewater".

It credited the "Singaporean government", which has "integrated wastewater reuse into its socioeconomic development and water security".

The ranking, where a score of 100 means the country has among the lowest loss of health in the world, tabulates the health risks associated with each country’s water and sanitation, which were given a score.

The score is based on a formula that calculates the loss of one year of full health.

The World Health Organisation calls this adverse impact disability-adjusted life years, adjusted for age.

A score of zero indicates the highest loss of health.

Improved in this area

The latest report is a win for Singapore.

In the 2022 EPI report, Singapore ranked 21st in sanitation and drinking water.

Other areas of improvement

Apart from sanitation and water, the EPI also ranks each country’s performance on 10 other environmental issues.

Singapore ranked 44 in the overall report.

The country came in lower for marine habitat protection (129), waste generated per capita (97) and in a few other areas.

Top photo via Unsplash