Fresh Water Reserves

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Chronicle

2025: Russia ranks second in terms of fresh water reserves

Russia has more than 10% of the world's fresh water reserves, which provides it with the second place in the global ranking of countries in terms of renewable water resources after Brazil. Russian freshwater resources are concentrated in thousands of rivers and lakes, including Baikal, which contains 20% of the world's ice-free fresh water reserves. This became known on September 3, 2025.

Freshwater makes up just 2.5% of the planet's total water, with most of it in glaciers and underground springs. The distribution of water resources between countries is extremely uneven - some states are rich in lakes, rivers and glaciers, others are experiencing an acute shortage of fresh water.

Brazil remains the leader in fresh water reserves with 13% of the world's resources. The South American country owes the primacy to the Amazon basin, which accounts for about a fifth of the world's river flow. The unique ecosystem of the Amazon provides Brazil with a significant advantage in water resources.

Canada ranks third with 6.7% of the world's fresh water supply. The country has more than two million lakes, including the Great Lakes system, which contains about 84% of North American surface freshwater. Canadian water resources play a key role in the continent's water supply.

The United States and China share the fourth and fifth places with the same indicators of 6.6% of the world's fresh water reserves each. American water resources are represented by large river systems, including Mississippi, Colorado and Colombia, which supply water to millions of people. However, water scarcity is becoming a growing problem, especially in southwestern states where aquifers are depleting faster than the natural replenishment process.^[1]

2022: Fresh water - 3% of all water

Most of our planet is covered in water - but fresh water accounts for just 3% of all water on Earth, and only 1% of fresh water is available as potable water. The rest is groundwater (30%) and glaciers (69%).

The availability of water varies greatly between countries around the world. As of 2022, the countries of Central Asia are leading in terms of water consumption per capita. 10 included Turkmenistan (the first place in the world, 5.7 thousand cubic meters of water per person per year), Uzbekistan (4th place, 2.1 thousand), Tajikistan (6th place, 1.6 thousand) and Kyrgyzstan (8th place, 1.5 thousand).

Against this background, 425 cubic meters of water per person per year in Russia looks very modest - and quite in line with other European countries (Germany, France, Austria - everywhere is consumed in the range from 400 to 500 cubic meters of fresh water per person per year) and exactly the same as in China.

By comparison, in many countries in Africa, fresh water consumption is in the region of 20 cubic meters per person per year.

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