Top 5 Countries With The HIGHEST Water Use Per Person

Added: 2026-05-27

[00:00:00]You'll be shocked, but one country uses so much water per person that it helped destroy an entire sea. At number five is the United States, withdrawing around 1,000 100 cubic meters of fresh water per person every year. Huge amounts are used for power plants, industry, and massive agricultural regions like California's Central Valley.

[00:00:20]The fourth is Guyana with 1,700 cubic meters per person. Despite its small population, the country uses enormous water resources for mining, agriculture, and energy projects. The bronze goes to New Zealand at 2,000 cubic meters per capita.

[00:00:36]The country's giant dairy industry and intensive farming consume huge [music] quantities of fresh water every year.

[00:00:42]The second is Montenegro, using 3,500 cubic meters per person. It's [music] surprisingly high ranking comes from heavy industrial and agricultural water use. And tops the list Turkmenistan with a staggering 3,600 cubic meters per person, driven by giant cotton irrigation systems built across one of the driest regions in Central Asia.