Money Down the Drain: Corruption and Access to Water in Sub-Saharan Africa

Previous studies have documented evidence of endemic corruption in the water and sanitation sector but only a few studies have examined the link between corruption and access to water. Drawing on data from the Afrobarometer surveys, which record 45,000 households’ access to water across sub-Saharan Africa, we find that corruption is associated with a lower likelihood of access to water for household purposes. We show that corruption in the utilities sector is driving this result and that corruption in other contexts is not associated with access to water. While an individual who has paid a bribe for utilities is more likely to have a water access point, the local incidence of utilities corruption strongly predicts that the household will not have enough clean water for home use. Individual acts of bribery, while associated with increased nominal connectivity to a water network, are not associated with greater access in reality. We conclude that corruption distorts decision making and resource allocation in the water sector, leaving households worse off. Our findings underline the importance of targeted efforts to control corruption in public utilities, in order to guarantee access to clean water for all.