Diallo, AmadouBanerjee, SudeshnaFoster, VivienWodon, Quentin2012-03-192012-03-192009-03-01https://hdl.handle.net/10986/4074Household surveys have long been used to estimate poverty and inequality trends, as well as trends in education and health indicators, but they have not been used to the same extent to assess trends in the access to or coverage of modern infrastructure services. In this paper, we use Demographic and Health Surveys from a larger sample of sub-Saharan African countries in order to collect comparable information across countries on coverage of piped water, flush toilets, electricity, and landline telephones over time. The results suggest that coverage rates for electricity, flush toilets have improved slightly over the last decade. Coverage of piped water has declined, at the same time as coverage of landline (as well as cellular) telephone has increased rapidly. The decline has been primarily in the urban areas while the infrastructure coverage has either increased or remained stable in rural Africa. For all four services, among the poorest households coverage remains virtually inexistent. If business as usual continues, it would take a very long time to reach universal or widely shared coverage even in countries where coverage has improved. These results point to the need to increase efforts by governments and international community to progressively increase access to modern infrastructure services in Africa.CC BY 3.0 IGOACCESS TO INFRASTRUCTUREACCESS TO SAFE DRINKING WATERACCESS TO SAFE WATERBASIC INFRASTRUCTUREBASIC SANITATIONBULLETINCITIESCOMMUNITIESCONNECTIONCONNECTION CHARGESCOST RECOVERYDECLINES IN FERTILITYDEMOGRAPHIC GROWTHDEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITIONDEVELOPING COUNTRIESECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMIC RESOURCESFLUSH TOILETFLUSH TOILETSGROSS NATIONAL INCOMEHOUSEHOLD INCOMEHOUSEHOLD LEVELHOUSEHOLD SIZEHOUSEHOLD SURVEYSHOUSEHOLDSHOUSINGHUMAN DEVELOPMENTINCOME INEQUALITYINFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENTINFRASTRUCTURE SERVICESINTERNATIONAL COMMUNITYLABOR MARKETSMIGRATIONMILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALSMINORITYMONTHLY BILLNATIONAL LEVELNATURAL GASNUMBER OF CONNECTIONSNUMBER OF PEOPLENUMBER OF PEOPLE WITHOUT ACCESSNUMBER OF PERSONSNUTRITIONOFFICIAL DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCEPIT LATRINEPIT LATRINESPOLICY IMPLICATIONSPOLICY RESEARCHPOLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPERPOOR PEOPLEPOPULATION DENSITYPOPULATION GROWTHPOPULATION GROWTH RATESPRIVATE PARTICIPATIONPROGRESSPUBLIC POLICYPUBLIC TAPPUBLIC TAPSPURCHASING POWERQUALITY OF SERVICEQUALITY OF SERVICE DELIVERYRADIORESPECTRICHER COUNTRIESRURAL AREASRURAL DWELLERSRURAL POPULATIONSAFE SANITATIONSANITATION FACILITIESSANITATION SERVICESSEPTIC TANKSEPTIC TANKSSERVICE PROVIDERSERVICE PROVIDERSSERVICE QUALITYSEWERAGESEWERAGE SERVICESEWERAGE SYSTEMSEWERAGE SYSTEMSSIGNIFICANT POLICYSMALL TOWNSSOURCE OF DRINKING WATERSURFACE WATERSUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENTTELEVISIONTOILET FACILITYUNIVERSAL ACCESSURBAN AREASURBAN DWELLERSURBAN HOUSEHOLDSURBAN POPULATIONURBANIZATIONWATER SERVICEWATER SERVICE PROVIDERSWATER SOURCEWATER SOURCESWATER SUPPLYWELLSWORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATIONWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-4880