Open defecation in cities: A faltering India story Meera Mehta , Dinesh Mehta (original) (raw)

While India is home to about 11% of the world's urban population, it has over 47% of the world's population practicing open defecation (OD) 1 . India also fares worse than other countries at similar income levels (Asian Development Bank (ADB) 2009). The 2011 Census of India provides some startling results. Nearly 12% of urban households resort to OD and another 8% use public or shared toilet facilities 2 . The situation is far worse in smaller cities (population below 100,000), with OD rates around 22%. Though significantly less prevalent than in rural India, OD in urban settings poses more serious challenges. With higher population densities and a lack of safe spaces, OD affords little dignity and poses grave security risks for women. Moreover, recent literature suggests that OD causes stunting among Indian children, particularly in more dense urban areas (Ghosh et al. 2014, Rheingans et al. (2012), Spears 2013). Access to on-premise toilets in cities explains the OD variat...