Metric guide
Freshwater by country: renewable flow, not a buried stockpile.
Renewable internal freshwater resources estimate the annual flow of water generated within a country. It is a resource metric, but it is not the same thing as a fixed underground stock.
That makes interpretation important. A large total flow can look impressive, while freshwater per person can tell a different story in highly populated countries.
Top countries in the current snapshot
Freshwater totals show annual renewable flow inside a country. The ranking can change sharply when you switch to freshwater per person because population pressure changes the interpretation.
| Rank | Country | Value | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brazil | 5,661 billion m³/year | 2022 |
| 2 | Russia | 4,312 billion m³/year | 2022 |
| 3 | Canada | 2,850 billion m³/year | 2022 |
| 4 | United States of America | 2,818 billion m³/year | 2022 |
| 5 | People's Republic of China | 2,813 billion m³/year | 2022 |
| 6 | Colombia | 2,145 billion m³/year | 2022 |
| 7 | Indonesia | 2,019 billion m³/year | 2022 |
| 8 | Peru | 1,641 billion m³/year | 2022 |
| 9 | India | 1,446 billion m³/year | 2022 |
| 10 | Myanmar | 1,003 billion m³/year | 2022 |
| 11 | Chile | 885 billion m³/year | 2022 |
| 12 | Venezuela | 805 billion m³/year | 2022 |
What this metric is useful for
- Compare countries by annual renewable freshwater flow.
- Switch to freshwater per person to account for population.
- Use the map to see how hydrology, land area and population create different patterns.
Things to keep in mind
- Freshwater availability inside a country can vary sharply by region and season.
- Total renewable flow is additive, but freshwater per person is not.
- This metric should not be treated as a measure of groundwater reserves.
Open this metric on the map
Open the live map with Renewable internal freshwater selected. You can then click countries, search for groups, drag countries between comparison groups, or switch to a related metric without losing the context of the map.
Source and coverage
Source: World Development Indicators. Coverage in this snapshot: 177 countries out of 242. Reference year: 2022.
Economic, demographic, industrial, defence, water and health indicators. Reuse note: WDI data is generally CC BY 4.0 and commercial use is allowed, but individual indicator metadata can identify third-party content with different terms.