Desalination supplies freshwater from seawater or brackish sources, but reported totals vary by definition: facilities, operational plants, annualized capacity, actual production and contract tariffs are different measures. The statistics below keep geography, periods, units and estimate or forecast status explicit.
Key Desalination Statistics
The following highlights span global scale, Gulf capacity, economics and energy demand:
- In the 2015–2016 global synthesis, 15,906 operational desalination plants were counted worldwide.
- In the 2015–2016 synthesis, about 95 million m³/day of desalinated water was produced for human use worldwide.
- In the 2015–2016 synthesis, the Middle East and North Africa supplied 48% of global human-use desalinated water.
- In the 2015–2016 synthesis, global desalination brine was estimated at about 142 million m³/day.
- In the 2015–2016 synthesis, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait and Qatar accounted for 55% of global brine production.
- In the 2017 IDA Desalination Yearbook estimate cited by the World Bank, more than 20,000 desalination facilities existed worldwide.
- In the 2010 technology breakdown, reverse osmosis represented 47% of global desalination capacity.
- In the 2010 technology breakdown, multistage flash represented 42% of global desalination capacity.
- In the World Bank assessment of SWRO projects built from 2001–2017, economies of scale tapered above 100 MLD.
- In the World Bank assessment reported in 2019, the estimated optimum individual SWRO plant size was 100–200 million liters/day.
- In the 2023 review assessment, annual GCC desalination capacity was estimated at 26.4 billion m³.
- In the 2023 review assessment, average GCC water consumption was around 550 liters/person/day.
- GCC desalination capacity was 2,012 million m³/year in 1990 and 3,223 million m³/year in 2000.
- In the World Bank cost database, MSF production costs ranged from US$1.02 to US$1.74/m³ during 2002–2016.
- In the cited 2004 cost estimates, RO costs were US$0.68–US$0.82/m³ for 30,000–32,000 m³/day plants.
- The IEA projected that desalination projects would represent 20% of water-related electricity demand worldwide by 2040.
- In the IEA’s 2023 assessment, more than 95% of Middle East desalination energy came from fossil fuels.
- The IEA projected Middle East desalination at 10% of final energy consumption in 2030 and 15% in 2050, up from 7% today.
Contents
- Global desalination scale, product water and brine
- Desalination technology and plant-size trends
- GCC desalination statistics and capacity growth
- Desalinated-water costs by technology and scale
- Desalination energy use and electricity trends
- Project capacity, investment and tariff examples
Global Desalination Statistics: Plants, Product Water and Brine
A peer-reviewed global synthesis based on a 2015–2016 dataset counted 15,906 operational plants and estimated about 95 million m³/day of desalinated water for human use worldwide. The study estimated MENA’s share at 48% of global human-use product water, while noting that plant coverage and operational status depend on database records. The state of desalination and brine production: A global outlook
The same synthesis estimated global brine production at about 142 million m³/day. Brine includes concentrate discharge and is not equivalent to product water; the estimate was approximately 50% greater than previous quantifications cited by the study, a study-level comparison rather than a new plant measurement.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar together accounted for 55% of the estimated global brine volume in that synthesis. This country grouping is a source-reported share, not a separately calculated result.
A different World Bank appendix cited more than 20,000 facilities worldwide from the 2017 IDA Desalination Yearbook. It also reproduced an industry estimate of 9,758 billion m³/day, but the report notes an apparent unit inconsistency; that value should not be reconciled with the peer-reviewed synthesis. Somalia: Groundwater Assessment — Appendix 8: Cost of Desalination of Seawater and Brackish Groundwater
Desalination Technology and Plant-Size Trends
The World Bank’s 2010 technology breakdown attributed 47% of desalination capacity to reverse osmosis, 42% to multistage flash and 11% to multiple-effect distillation. The dataset also identified a residual 6% category including electrodialysis and hybrids; these percentages belong to the cited 2010 GWI/DesalData breakdown. The Role of Desalination in an Increasingly Water-Scarce World
The World Bank cost-study database included about 60 plants with different capacities, technologies and configurations. Its SWRO assessment used 34 plants built from 2001–2017, so the sample describes project economics rather than a global census.
For SWRO, the assessment found significant economies of scale at lower production capacities, with the effect tapering above 100 million liters/day. It identified an estimated optimum individual plant size of 100–200 million liters/day, a planning estimate rather than a universal engineering limit.
MSF projects in the database were larger in several cases. The largest exceeded 500 MLD, and the eight MSF plants in the 2002–2016 cost sample ranged from 89,000 to 880,000 m³/day, mostly in the Arabian Gulf.
GCC Desalination Statistics and Capacity Growth
The six-country Gulf Cooperation Council—Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE—has unusually high dependence on desalination. A 2023 review estimated annual GCC desalination capacity at 26.4 billion m³, compared with 4.14 billion m³ of renewable surface-water resources and 10.07 billion m³/year of wastewater-treatment capacity. Water resources availability, sustainability and challenges in the GCC countries: An overview
The same review estimated average GCC water consumption at around 550 liters/person/day. This is a six-country average and does not directly measure desalinated-water consumption.
The World Bank’s country-reported table shows how annualized GCC capacity changed between 1990 and 2000:
| GCC country | 1990 capacity (million m³/year) | 2000 capacity (million m³/year) |
|---|---|---|
| Bahrain | 75 | 104 |
| Kuwait | 318 | 522 |
| Oman | 55 | 60 |
| Qatar | 112 | 178 |
| Saudi Arabia | 950 | 1,278 |
| United Arab Emirates | 502 | 1,081 |
| GCC total | 2,012 | 3,223 |
These figures are official country reports compiled by the World Bank, with m³/day values converted into million m³/year. They describe reported capacity, not necessarily actual production. A Water Sector Assessment Report on GCC Countries
Desalinated-Water Cost Statistics by Technology and Scale
Cost comparisons require care because World Bank production-cost figures generally exclude conveyance and distribution. Project tariffs are contract-specific and should not be treated as identical to a plant’s production cost.
| Process or situation | Reported cost | Period or scope |
|---|---|---|
| MSF | US$1.02–US$1.74/m³; US$1.44/m³ average | Eight plants, 2002–2016 |
| MED | US$1.12–US$1.50/m³; US$1.39/m³ average | Selected World Bank projects |
| Hybrid-project RO portion | US$0.85–US$1.12/m³ | Selected project database |
| MSF, 30,000–32,000 m³/day | US$1.04–US$1.25/m³ | Historical estimates cited in 2004 |
| MED, 30,000–32,000 m³/day | US$0.75–US$0.95/m³ | Historical estimates cited in 2004 |
| RO, 30,000–32,000 m³/day | US$0.68–US$0.82/m³ | Historical estimates cited in 2004 |
The World Bank’s MSF sample also showed scale effects: smaller plants produced water at US$1.50–US$1.74/m³, while larger plants produced water for just over US$1/m³. The comparison is limited to the selected eight-plant sample. The Role of Desalination in an Increasingly Water-Scarce World
Historical capital-cost estimates cited in the GCC assessment put small plants producing 10,000 m³/day or less at US$1.4–US$2.0/m³, compared with US$0.7–US$1.3/m³ for plants of at least 20,000 m³/day. These are capital-cost ranges, not delivered-water prices.
A World Bank technical report gave a broad average desalinated-water price range of US$0.5–US$1.5/m³, depending partly on electricity costs and project conditions. It estimated brackish-water desalination at about half the cost of seawater desalination, while cautioning that the ratio depends on capacity and salinity; its approximate figures were US$1/m³ for large capacities and US$1.5/m³ for small capacities. Somalia: Groundwater Assessment — Appendix 8: Cost of Desalination of Seawater and Brackish Groundwater
Desalination Energy Use and Electricity Trends
The IEA’s WEO-2016 analysis projected that global water-sector energy use would more than double over the 25 years after the analysis. By 2040, desalination projects were projected to account for 20% of water-related electricity demand, while the water sector overall remained around 4% of global electricity consumption. WEO-2016 Special Report: Water-Energy Nexus
The same projection placed US and EU water sectors at around 3% of their respective electricity consumption in 2040. For the Middle East, water-sector electricity was projected to rise from 9% of regional electricity in 2015 to 16% in 2040, partly reflecting desalination-capacity growth.
The IEA states that desalination often requires more than 1 kWh/m³ of treated water. In its 2023 regional assessment, Middle East desalination energy use was almost half the energy consumed by the region’s residential sector, and more than 95% of desalination energy came from fossil fuels. Energy is vital to a well-functioning water sector
The Middle East accounted for roughly 90% of thermal energy used for desalination worldwide in that assessment. The IEA projected desalination’s share of Middle East final energy consumption at 10% in 2030 and 15% in 2050, up from 7% today, and projected 2030 desalination energy demand at around 80 billion m³ equivalent of natural gas; these are scenario outputs, not observed future results.
Desalination Project Capacity, Investment and Tariff Examples
Named projects show why capacity, capital expenditure and tariff values should be read together but not treated as interchangeable. The World Bank table reports the following project-level observations:
| Project and country | Period | Capacity | CAPEX; tariff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skikda, Algeria RO | 2009 | 100,000 m³/day | US$110.8m; US$0.7398/m³ |
| Beni Saf, Algeria RO | 2010 | 200,000 m³/day | US$153.4m; US$0.6994/m³ |
| Tenès, Algeria RO | 2015 | 200,000 m³/day | US$231m; US$0.59/m³ |
| Ashkelon, Israel RO | 2005 | 396,000 m³/day | US$212m; US$0.52/m³ |
| Shuqaiq 3, Saudi Arabia RO | 2021 | 450,000 m³/day | about US$600m; US$0.52/m³ |
| Rabigh, Saudi Arabia RO | 2022 | 600,000 m³/day | US$650m; US$0.55/m³ |
| Taweelah, UAE RO | 2022 | 909,000 m³/day | US$550m–US$1.2bn; US$0.49/m³ |
| Tuaspring, Singapore RO | 2013 | 318,500 m³/day | US$635m; US$0.36/m³ |
| Larnaca, Cyprus RO | 2001 | 52,000 m³/day | €47m; US$0.74/m³ |
The table’s currencies, contract structures and source-reported CAPEX ranges are not directly comparable across projects. The Shuqaiq CAPEX is marked with an asterisk in the source table, and Larnaca reports CAPEX in euros but tariff in US dollars. Somalia: Groundwater Assessment — Appendix 8: Cost of Desalination of Seawater and Brackish Groundwater