Water security risk index
0-10 index of water security risk combining scarcity and stress, WASH access, water quality and transboundary dependence; geometric so that good access does not offset severe scarcity.
geometric
equal weights · floor 0.1 where geometric
1,000 draws
normalisation, weights, aggregation, imputation
4 components
11 leaf indicators
75% minimum
modelled share ≤ 20%
From indicators to the composite
The water dimension of a place profile; each sub-index stays visible beside the index.
- Level of water stressIndicator · IND · %Total freshwater withdrawn by all sectors as a percentage of total renewable freshwater resources after subtracting environmental flow requirements.
- Total renewable freshwater resources per capitaIndicator · IND · m3/a/{person}Long-term average internal and external renewable surface and groundwater resources per resident, in cubic metres per year.
- Groundwater storage declineIndicator · IND · mm/aTrend in terrestrial groundwater storage over at least 15 years, in millimetres of equivalent water height per year (positive = decline), from satellite gravimetry with modelled soil-moisture and surface-water storage removed.
- Water-use efficiencyIndicator · IND · [USD]/m3Gross value added of agriculture, industry and services per cubic metre of water withdrawn by those sectors, at constant 2015 US dollars, weighted by each sector's share of withdrawals; its change over time is the SDG target measure.
- Population using safely managed drinking waterIndicator · IND · %Share of the population using an improved drinking-water source located on premises, available when needed and free from faecal and priority chemical contamination.
- Population using safely managed sanitationIndicator · IND · %Share of the population using an improved sanitation facility not shared with other households, whose excreta are safely disposed of in situ or treated off site.
- Population with basic hand-washing facilitiesIndicator · IND · %Share of the population with a hand-washing facility with soap and water available at home.
- Water bodies with good ambient water qualityIndicator · IND · %Share of monitored river, lake and groundwater bodies whose measured oxygen, salinity, nitrogen, phosphorus and acidity meet national good-quality targets.
- Wastewater flows safely treatedIndicator · IND · %Share of domestic and industrial wastewater flows that are treated to a level meeting national or local standards before discharge.
- Dependency ratio on external renewable waterIndicator · IND · %Share of total renewable water resources that originates outside the country, as inflow from upstream countries or shared aquifers.
- Transboundary basin area with operational cooperationIndicator · IND · %Share of the country's transboundary river, lake and aquifer basin area covered by an arrangement for water cooperation that is operational.
- Water scarcity and stress sub-indexSub-index · SUB · w 2 · 40.0%Composite of the level of water stress, renewable water per capita, groundwater storage decline and water-use efficiency.
- Drinking water, sanitation and hygiene access sub-indexSub-index · SUB · w 1 · 20.0%Composite of safely managed drinking water, safely managed sanitation and basic hand-washing coverage.
- Water quality sub-indexSub-index · SUB · w 1 · 20.0%Composite of the share of water bodies with good ambient quality and the share of wastewater safely treated.
- Transboundary water dependence sub-indexSub-index · SUB · w 1 · 20.0%Composite of the external water dependency ratio and the share of transboundary basin area under operational cooperation.
- Water security risk indexDomain index · IDX · geometric0-10 index of water security risk combining scarcity and stress, WASH access, water quality and transboundary dependence; geometric so that good access does not offset severe scarcity.
- Human and systems vulnerabilityPillar · PILLAR · 8 indicesHow susceptible are people, livelihoods, ecosystems and essential systems to harm when a shock arrives?
- NXS-GRX Composite RiskComposite · COMPOSITE · four pillarsComposite = (HTE × VUL × MSF × LCC)^(1/4), each pillar on 0–10 floored at 0.1; pillar = expert-weighted geometric mean of its domain indices
Run this index's own aggregation
Set each component, change the aggregation or the weight uncertainty, and watch the interval, the class probability and each component's contribution respond.
Treatment, normalisation, weighting, aggregation, uncertainty
- Treatment
- WINSORISE
- Outlier rule
- |skew| > 2, kurtosis > 3.5
- Normalisation
- MIN_MAX
- Imputation
- NONE
- Coverage minimum
- 75% of components
- Modelled share cap
- 20% of weight
- Weighting
- equal
- Aggregation
- geometric
- Scale
- 0 to 10
- Uncertainty
- 1,000 Monte Carlo runs over normalisation, weights, aggregation, imputation
- Framework basis
- SDG 6; UN-Water water security framing; OECD/JRC Handbook (2008)
4 components, 11 indicators
Water scarcity and stress sub-index w 2
Composite of the level of water stress, renewable water per capita, groundwater storage decline and water-use efficiency.
| Indicator | Unit | Evidence | Sources | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level of water stressIND.WAT.stress.water_stress | % | Class B | fao-aquastat, un-sdg-database, wb-wdi | 44.4% |
| Total renewable freshwater resources per capitaIND.WAT.stress.renewable_water.pc | m3/a/{person} | Class B | fao-aquastat, wb-wdi | 22.2% |
| Groundwater storage declineIND.WAT.stress.groundwater_depletion | mm/a | Class C | nasa-grace-fo, igrac-ggis, national-groundwater-monitoring | 22.2% |
| Water-use efficiencyIND.WAT.stress.water_use_efficiency | [USD]/m3 | Class B | fao-aquastat, un-sdg-database, wb-wdi | 11.1% |
Drinking water, sanitation and hygiene access sub-index w 1
Composite of safely managed drinking water, safely managed sanitation and basic hand-washing coverage.
| Indicator | Unit | Evidence | Sources | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Population using safely managed drinking waterIND.WAT.access.safely_managed_drinking_water.share | % | Class B | who-unicef-jmp, wb-wdi | 33.3% |
| Population using safely managed sanitationIND.WAT.access.safely_managed_sanitation.share | % | Class B | who-unicef-jmp, wb-wdi | 33.3% |
| Population with basic hand-washing facilitiesIND.WAT.access.basic_handwashing.share | % | Class B | who-unicef-jmp, wb-wdi | 33.3% |
Water quality sub-index w 1
Composite of the share of water bodies with good ambient quality and the share of wastewater safely treated.
| Indicator | Unit | Evidence | Sources | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water bodies with good ambient water qualityIND.WAT.quality.good_ambient_water_quality.share | % | Class B | unep-gems-water, un-sdg-database | 50.0% |
| Wastewater flows safely treatedIND.WAT.quality.wastewater_safely_treated.share | % | Class B | who-un-habitat-wastewater, un-sdg-database | 50.0% |
Transboundary water dependence sub-index w 1
Composite of the external water dependency ratio and the share of transboundary basin area under operational cooperation.
| Indicator | Unit | Evidence | Sources | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dependency ratio on external renewable waterIND.WAT.dependence.external_water_dependency | % | Class B | fao-aquastat | 66.7% |
| Transboundary basin area with operational cooperationIND.WAT.dependence.transboundary_cooperation.share | % | Class B | unece-unesco-sdg652, un-sdg-database | 33.3% |
Water
Water availability, stress, access, quality and transboundary dependence.
| Sub-domain | Indicators |
|---|---|
| Water stress | 5 |
| Drinking water and sanitation | 4 |
| Water quality | 2 |
| Transboundary dependence | 2 |
Anchor frameworks (pillar structure and definitions only): SDG 6; FAO AQUASTAT.
All 13 water indicators
| Indicator | Domain | Sub-domain | Component | Unit | Levels | Crosswalks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level of water stressIND.WAT.stress.water_stress | WAT | Water stress | hazard | % | COUNTRY, ADM1 | SDG 6.4.2 WB_WDI ER.H2O.FWST.ZS |
| Baseline water stress score (sub-basin)IND.WAT.stress.baseline_water_stress | WAT | Water stress | hazard | {score} | COUNTRY, ADM1, CITY, GRID, SITE, PORTFOLIO | |
| Total renewable freshwater resources per capitaIND.WAT.stress.renewable_water.pc | WAT | Water stress | hazard | m3/a/{person} | COUNTRY | WB_WDI ER.H2O.INTR.PC |
| Groundwater storage declineIND.WAT.stress.groundwater_depletion | WAT | Water stress | hazard | mm/a | COUNTRY, ADM1, GRID | |
| Water-use efficiencyIND.WAT.stress.water_use_efficiency | WAT | Water stress | adaptive capacity | [USD]/m3 | COUNTRY | SDG 6.4.1 WB_WDI ER.GDP.FWTL.M3.KD |
| Population using safely managed drinking waterIND.WAT.access.safely_managed_drinking_water.share | WAT | Drinking water and sanitation | vulnerability | % | COUNTRY, ADM1, CITY | SDG 6.1.1 WB_WDI SH.H2O.SMDW.ZS EPI UWD |
| Population using at least basic drinking waterIND.WAT.access.basic_drinking_water.share | WAT | Drinking water and sanitation | vulnerability | % | COUNTRY, ADM1 | WB_WDI SH.H2O.BASW.ZS |
| Population using safely managed sanitationIND.WAT.access.safely_managed_sanitation.share | WAT | Drinking water and sanitation | vulnerability | % | COUNTRY, ADM1, CITY | WB_WDI SH.STA.SMSS.ZS SDG 6.2.1 EPI USD |
| Population with basic hand-washing facilitiesIND.WAT.access.basic_handwashing.share | WAT | Drinking water and sanitation | vulnerability | % | COUNTRY, ADM1 | WB_WDI SH.STA.HYGN.ZS SDG 6.2.1 |
| Water bodies with good ambient water qualityIND.WAT.quality.good_ambient_water_quality.share | WAT | Water quality | vulnerability | % | COUNTRY, ADM1 | SDG 6.3.2 |
| Wastewater flows safely treatedIND.WAT.quality.wastewater_safely_treated.share | WAT | Water quality | coping capacity | % | COUNTRY, CITY | SDG 6.3.1 EPI WWT |
| Dependency ratio on external renewable waterIND.WAT.dependence.external_water_dependency | WAT | Transboundary dependence | exposure | % | COUNTRY | |
| Transboundary basin area with operational cooperationIND.WAT.dependence.transboundary_cooperation.share | WAT | Transboundary dependence | coping capacity | % | COUNTRY | SDG 6.5.2 |
Water security risk index, world
The world reading of this index, every country as a tile and the largest movements since the previous edition.
- Previous edition
- —
- Range since 2016
- —
- Coupled composite
- —
- Coupling score S
- —
- Pulse, latest week
- —
- Outlook, 12 months
- —
- Method
- Indicator Standard 1.0 · NXS-GRX 2026
- Draws
- 1,000
No released values yet. The first edition draws the history here with its interval band and class bounds.
Country values
- Tiles
/api/v1/public/grix/risk-products/tiles/wat/{z}/{x}/{y}.mvt- Observation key
nis:IDX.WAT.stress.water_security_risk:{ISO3}:{YEAR}:A
Series that read this index
Crosswalks and validity checks
Crosswalks map leaf indicators to source code lists; established indices are used for validity checks, never re-weighted as inputs.
| Code system | Leaf indicators mapped |
|---|---|
SDG | 8 |
WB_WDI | 6 |
EPI | 3 |
Platforms, standards and ways to take part
Field and service platforms of GCRI, GRF and GRA, the Nexus Risk Standards for this domain, learning, working groups and open calls. Every link is a live page.
Across the Nexus
GCRI Water · GRF Diplomacy · GRF Climate and Nature Governance
Cite and reuse
See this index in every country profile
Each profile shows this index with its interval and class once released.
Status
The methodology, structure and definitions of The Global Risks Index are a preparatory working draft (2026), circulated for review and comment and not for implementation. No value appears until an edition is released from a governed evidence cut; values then carry intervals, classes, sources and their correction pathway. Simulators run the published methods on numbers you choose and never show a NXS-GRX value.
What NXS-GRX is not
NXS-GRX is research and risk-analytics information. It is not a credit or ESG rating and uses no rating scale, not a benchmark for financial instruments, not official statistics, not an emergency warning or official classification, and not advice. It must not be used to evaluate natural persons. Risk classes are bands on a published scale, never rankings of countries or people.
Institutions and sources
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Avis en français
La méthodologie et les définitions du NXS-GRX sont un projet de travail préparatoire (2026). Le NXS-GRX est une information de recherche et d'analyse des risques : ni notation, ni indice de référence financier, ni statistique officielle, ni alerte, ni conseil. Les classes de risque sont des bandes sur une échelle publiée, non des classements.