After the surprise win of Saudi Arabia over Argentina that we at Nazava predicted well, all eyes are now Saudi Arabia. As water is important for health and performance we will here take a look at how Poland and Saudi Arabia compare on access to safe drinking water and sanitation. First a little bit of country background

Poland , Eastern European or the center of Europe

For Western Europeans every country east of Germany is Eastern Europe. However, if you are in Poland, there is still a few thousand kilometer of Europe East of you. So it makes more sense to think of Poland as a Central European country. In the previous post we already discussed Joseph Stalin ‘s views on Poland as well as the unique original forest in the Eastern part of Poland.  There are 20 million Poles that are living outside of Poland which is over 50% of the population of Poland. Hundreds of Polish football players play in competitions outside of Poland.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar’s rival

We already covered all the Saudi stereotypes in the previous article   A little bit of history: Saudi Arabia was only lightly touched by European colonialism: in the early 1900s, most of the Arabian peninsula transitioned from the Ottoman Empire to the British Empire, though the British left much of the peninsula’s vast interior relatively untouched. Let’s look into the data on acccess to safe drinking water to see who will win this match!

Does Poland or Saudi Arabia have better potable water infrastructure

In Poland reportedly 98% of people can drink the water from the tap. A report describes that Poles drink less water than average Europeans, but this might be only bottled water not tap water. Because during the winter it is rather cold the Poles might prefer to drink tea do warm their bodies. 

Saudi Arabia is does not reporting how many people can drink from the tap to the UN. This is remarkable as water is so important if you are living in a desert.  Groundwater is limited in Saudi Arabia so many cities use desalinated sea water.  Also ground water sometimes needs desalinization. 

Winner:   A clear win for Poland

Who is better at treating sewage Saudi Arabia or Poland?

Poland 91% of Poles live in a house with a proper sewer system. The real figure might  be a bit lower.  Millions of fish died last summer in theOder river one the border with Poland and Germany. One of the causes is said to be the 1,400 outlets discharging sewage into Polish rivers operate without a legal permit.

Saudi Arabia:59% of households are connected a sewer that leads to a treatment plant. This number is low for a country which such a high income per capita.    

Winner: We still feel Poles have better sanitation systems, win for Poland

Do more people have access to handwashing facilities in Poland or Saudi Arabia?

Both countries do not report how many households can wash their hands with soap in their house. This is a pity.  We will not hand out point but Saudi Arabia’s citizens are the best hand washers in the world  the Poles are average handwashers. 

And our predicted winner is  POLAND