The water poverty rates and water sustainability rates for Some Arab countries for the period (2000-2023)

Abstract

The aim of the study is to identify the concept of water poverty and water sustainability as a tool for preserving water resources and raising the efficiency of their use because the availability of fresh water has become an important and worrying matter in Arab countries, as the water resource is the main obstacle to economic development and food production in these countries and the main goal is to benefit from it. Therefore, the study aims to calculating the water poverty and water sustainability indicators for Iraq, Algeria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Tunisia for the period (2000 – 2023). The study assumes that the water poverty index is high in the study countries, but the water sustainability index is low in them. The water sustainability was determined, where it found that Tunisia is one of the sample countries that is somewhat conservative in managing its water resources, followed by Egypt, then Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Algeria .By calculating the water poverty index (average per capita share), it was found that all sample countries suffer from serious scarcity, increased competition and water stress, and thus some sample countries have moved beyond the stage of water scarcity to water poverty.