About four (38.9%) of ten Indian households defecated in the open, according to the latest national health data gathered in 2015-16, down from 55.3% a decade before that, a decline of 16.4 percentage points.

While 10.5% of urban households defecated in the open in 2015-16, compared to 16.8% a decade before that, more than half (54.1%) of India’s rural households used no toilet or defecated in the open, compared to 74% of rural households who did so in 2005-06, according to the National Family Health Surveys in 2005-06 and 2015-16. Access to sanitation reduces ...