UNICEF · Oral Rehydration Salts for Children with Diarrhoea
Oral rehydration salts for diarrhoea by country
What share of young children with diarrhoea are given oral rehydration salts?
Turkmenistan placed first of the 106 countries compared in the 2024 edition, at 93.1%, and Mali last, at 9.9%. In the middle country the figure was 40.6%. 21 readings from before 2014 are listed but not compared.
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Part ofHealth & Wellbeing
Oral rehydration salts for diarrhoea · the 2024 edition
Context statistic
Highest of 106Turkmenistan
93.1%01the 2024 edition · position · derived
Who leads
The three countries at the highest end of 106 compared, the three at the other end, and the first on each continent.
1Photo: Rastapopulous · CC BY-SA 3.0, greyscale
2Photo: Annabel Symington derivative work: Jjtkk · CC BY 2.0, greyscale
3
Highest on each continent
- Africa
Sierra Leone85.3% - Americas
El Salvador69.8% - AsiaTurkmenistan93.1%
- Europe
Belarus52.7%3 of 49 measured
- Oceania
Kiribati61.3% - Every region
02Every measured country
Oral rehydration salts for diarrhoea on a map
Each country is shaded by its value, in five groups holding the same number of countries. Hover a country for its value, or select it to open its profile. Below the map, each continent’s middle country.
Darker is a higher value — the better end.
- 9.9–28.6%
- 29.5–36.6%
- 36.9–45.7%
- 46.6–58.1%
- 58.6–93.1%
- Hatched: a reading from before 2014, listed but not compared (21)
- No reading in the 2024 edition
- Asia
53.2%
the middle country, of 32 measured · 52 members
Turkmenistan93.1%
Malaysia17.7%Highest and lowest reading in Asia.
- Americas
44.7%
the middle country, of 18 measured · 48 members
El Salvador69.8%
Argentina15.4%Highest and lowest reading in Americas.
- Oceania
41.2%
the middle country, of 8 measured · 21 members
Kiribati61.3%
Vanuatu27.5%Highest and lowest reading in Oceania.
- Africa
35.5%
the middle country, of 45 measured · 55 members
Sierra Leone85.3%
Mali9.9%Highest and lowest reading in Africa.
- Europe
3 of 49 measured — too few for a middle: Albania, Belarus, Kosovo.
Belarus52.7%
Albania34.5%Highest and lowest reading in Europe.
- Every region
18 sub-regions, highest middle country first
- South-eastern Asia
58.1%
the middle country, of 9 measured · 11 members
Thailand72.5%Malaysia17.7%Highest and lowest reading in South-eastern Asia.
- Central America
55.8%
the middle country, of 6 measured · 8 members
El Salvador69.8%
Guatemala48.8%Highest and lowest reading in Central America.
- Southern Asia
53.2%
the middle country, of 8 measured · 9 members
Maldives74.8%
Afghanistan32.6%Highest and lowest reading in Southern Asia.
- Western Asia
41.5%
the middle country, of 9 measured · 19 members
Qatar62.6%
Yemen18.4%Highest and lowest reading in Western Asia.
- South America
39.6%
the middle country, of 7 measured · 12 members
Suriname45.6%Argentina15.4%Highest and lowest reading in South America.
- Caribbean
39.3%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 24 members
Dominican Republic53.2%
Trinidad and Tobago22.1%Highest and lowest reading in Caribbean.
- Western Africa
37.0%
the middle country, of 16 measured · 16 members
Sierra Leone85.3%Mali9.9%Highest and lowest reading in Western Africa.
- Eastern Africa
35.7%
the middle country, of 13 measured · 19 members
Zambia61.1%
Madagascar19.6%Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Africa.
- Northern Africa
32.8%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 6 members
Tunisia56.2%
Sudan19.6%Highest and lowest reading in Northern Africa.
- Middle Africa
25.2%
the middle country, of 8 measured · 9 members
São Tomé and Príncipe41.6%
Chad17.4%Highest and lowest reading in Middle Africa.
- Central Asia
4 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan.
Turkmenistan93.1%
Kyrgyzstan33.3%Highest and lowest reading in Central Asia.
- Eastern Asia
2 of 8 measured — too few for a middle: Mongolia, North Korea.
North Korea74.1%
Mongolia62.4%Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Asia.
- Eastern Europe
1 of 10 measured — too few for a middle: Belarus.
Belarus52.7%Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Europe.
- Melanesia
4 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu.
Fiji53.9%Vanuatu27.5%Highest and lowest reading in Melanesia.
- Micronesia
2 of 7 measured — too few for a middle: Kiribati, Nauru.
Kiribati61.3%
Nauru34.4%Highest and lowest reading in Micronesia.
- Polynesia
2 of 7 measured — too few for a middle: Samoa, Tuvalu.
Samoa58.6%
Tuvalu45.7%Highest and lowest reading in Polynesia.
- Southern Africa
3 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Eswatini, Lesotho, South Africa.
Eswatini67.9%
Lesotho35.5%Highest and lowest reading in Southern Africa.
- Southern Europe
2 of 17 measured — too few for a middle: Albania, Kosovo.
Kosovo38.6%Albania34.5%Highest and lowest reading in Southern Europe.
03The whole field at once
The spread
106 countries, one dot each, on one scale — further right is a higher value. Half the countries are above 40.6%; a quarter are above 55.1%, and a quarter below 32.8%. The bar in each row marks that continent’s middle country.
04All 127 ever measured
Every country
In order, highest value first. “=” marks a position shared with another country. UNICEF ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. The figure counts only children who had diarrhoea in the two weeks before the survey — a small group — so one survey can move a country's reading a long way. These surveys are run mainly in low- and middle-income countries, so most wealthy countries are absent rather than low.
Showing 25 of 127 countries
Values for the 2024 edition.
05In this edition
Oral rehydration salts for diarrhoea in records
The extremes of the statistic. A record reached by more than one country names none of them.
Highest reading
93.1%
Children under 5 with diarrhoea given oral rehydration salts (%)
Lowest reading
9.9%
Children under 5 with diarrhoea given oral rehydration salts (%)
06The measure
About oral rehydration salts for diarrhoea
This is the share of young children with diarrhoea who were given oral rehydration salts, the simple sugar-and-salt solution that replaces lost fluids. Diarrhoea is still one of the leading causes of death among children under five, and this is the cheapest treatment that prevents those deaths.
What the number is: Children under 5 with diarrhoea given oral rehydration salts (%).
07Where it fits
Connections
Its part in the Country Index, the statistics whose values line up most closely with it across countries, and others on the same subject.
In the Country Index
Context, with no vote
This statistic is published in full under Health & Wellbeing, but does not help decide any Country Index standing.
Moves with
Where oral rehydration salts for diarrhoea is higher, these tend to be higher too.
- Cropland Nitrogen BalanceFAO · 103 countries in commonρ 0.42
Moves against
Where oral rehydration salts for diarrhoea is higher, these tend to be lower.
- Total Dependency RatioUN DESA Population Division · 106 countries in commonρ −0.42
- Gender Inequality IndexUNDP Human Development Report Office · 97 countries in commonρ −0.42
- Total Fertility RateUN DESA Population Division · 106 countries in commonρ −0.40
Rank correlation (ρ, from −1 to 1) across countries, on each statistic’s newest edition, out of 286 statistics sharing at least 80 countries with this one. Two statistics that move together do not cause each other.
08Keep reading
Explore further
The subject
The data, edition by edition
The countries at either end
09Questions
Oral rehydration salts for diarrhoea: questions and answers
Which country has the highest oral rehydration salts for diarrhoea?
Turkmenistan, at 93.1%, among the 106 countries compared in the 2024 edition.
Which country has the lowest oral rehydration salts for diarrhoea?
Mali, at 9.9%, among the 106 countries compared in the 2024 edition.
How many countries does the Oral Rehydration Salts for Children with Diarrhoea cover?
106 in the 2024 edition, and 127 at least once across all editions.
What is the world average oral rehydration salts for diarrhoea?
This site does not calculate a world average, which would depend on how countries are weighted. In the middle country of the 106 compared in the 2024 edition, the figure was 40.6%.
Is this UNICEF’s own ranking?
No. UNICEF publishes the values but ranks nobody; the position on this page is derived by Nations Inquiry by ordering the published values, and equal values share a position.
How often is the Oral Rehydration Salts for Children with Diarrhoea published?
This site holds one edition, describing 2024.
Where does the data come from, and can I download it?
From UNICEF, under CC BY 3.0 IGO. From UNICEF's child health coverage database, compiled from household surveys and read from UNICEF's own data warehouse. Where a country has several surveys, UNICEF's own priority flag decides which is used. Every edition is on this site’s Datasets pages as a full table, and downloads as a CSV file with every value unrounded.
10Method
Sources, method and citation
Source
Oral Rehydration Salts for Children with Diarrhoea — UNICEF
From UNICEF's child health coverage database, compiled from household surveys and read from UNICEF's own data warehouse. Where a country has several surveys, UNICEF's own priority flag decides which is used.
Newest edition
Report year 2024Data year not recorded
Cite the source as: UNICEF. Child Health Coverage Database. New York: UNICEF.
Licence: CC BY 3.0 IGO, checked 2026-10-03.
How this page reads the numbers
- UNICEF ranks nobody on this measure. The position is derived by Nations Inquiry by ordering the published values; equal values share a position.
- Which end is better follows the publisher’s own reading of the measure.
- A country is named at an end only when it holds that value alone. Where several share it, the page says how many and names none first.
- The file gives each country’s most recent reading, so the rows are from different years. Readings from before 2014 are listed but left out of every comparison on this page.
- Values are stored exactly as published and trimmed only for display. “The middle country” is the median of the countries measured, not a world average.
The file itself, column by column — where it came from, what each column holds, and every edition as a CSV — is on its dataset page.
Photographs
The countries at the top of this statistic, from their profiles: Wikimedia Commons, shown in greyscale, each used under the licence named.
- Turkmenistan — Rastapopulous, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Sierra Leone — Annabel Symington derivative work: Jjtkk, CC BY 2.0
- Maldives — Steevie, CC0
Cite this page
Nations Inquiry (2026). Oral rehydration salts for diarrhoea by country: Oral Rehydration Salts for Children with Diarrhoea, data from UNICEF. https://nationsinquiry.com/statistics/ors-treatment