2.5 Million People Don't Have Access To A Toilet. Here's Why You Should Care.

The infographic below highlights the fact that 2.5 billion people have to seek out other options in lieu of a loo -- and it's just not OK.

Funny euphemisms aside, the World Bank created this illustration to detail the fact that lack of access to sanitation costs the world $260 billion yearly in health and productivity.

Health costs include $51 million spent on medication, transportation and hospitalization. Productivity takes a hit when people spend time away from work or school due to problems such as diarrheal disease.

Improving sanitation has a rate of return of more than five times every dollar invested, the World Bank reports.

See more global sanitation facts and a call to action below:

by worldbank ^[1] .

Explore more infographics ^[2] like this one on the web's largest information design community - Visually ^[3] .

During World Water Week earlier this month in Stockholm, a number of critical figures were brought to the forefront -- including the fact that 2,000 children die each day from preventable disease such as diarrhea ^[4] .

The advocacy week called on advocates, policymakers and scientists to help shed light on the problems surrounding open defecation.

“We must break taboos. As was the case for the word ‘toilets’ a few years ago, it is time to incorporate ‘open defecation’ in the political language and in the diplomatic discourse,” Jan Eliasson, UN deputy secretary-general, said at a World Water Week event Monday, Thomson Reuters Foundation reported ^[5] .

Eliasson called upon governments to invest more in water, sanitation and hygiene at the annual event.

Despite efforts, access to sanitation lags in terms of progress among the Millennium Development Goals, which aim to drastically reduce world poverty by 2015.

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