HOUSEHOLD POPULATION AND HOUSING
2.3 H OUSING C HARACTERISTICS
Types of water sources and sanitation facilities are important determinants of the health status of household members and particularly of children. Proper hygienic and sanitation practices can reduce
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Percent
Age Male Female
CDHS 2014 Note: Figure shows percentage of the de jure household population
age 5-24 years attending school
18 • Household Population and Housing Characteristics
exposure to and the seriousness of major childhood diseases such as diarrhea. The CDHS asked respondents about the household source of drinking water, the time required round trip to obtain that water, and the type of sanitation facility used by the household. In Cambodia, the source of drinking water can vary between the dry season and the rainy season, so separate questions were asked for the different seasons. If households had more than one source of drinking water, respondents were asked to identify the most commonly used source.
2.3.1 Water Supply
Table 2.6 shows that sources of drinking water were the same during the dry and rainy seasons for 92 percent of urban households and 67 percent of rural households. The source of drinking water is an indicator of whether it is suitable for drinking. Sources that are considered likely to be of suitable quality are listed under “Improved source” and those that may not be of suitable quality are listed under “Non-improved source,” reflecting the categorizations proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply and Sanitation.
During the dry season, 35 percent of households in Cambodia consume drinking water from a non-improved source. This percentage declines to 16 percent of households during the rainy season, when more households utilize rainwater for drinking water. The main source of drinking water during the rainy season is rainwater for nearly two of five households. Rainwater is the most common source of drinking water during the rainy season for rural households.
Even if water is not piped directly into the dwelling or yard, it is common for the source of water to be on the household premises, especially during the rainy season. Seventy-five percent of households report that their source of drinking water during the rainy season is located on the household premises. The variation between urban households and rural households is insignificant. During the dry season, the percentage of households with their source of drinking water on the premises declines to 69 percent and 51 percent among urban and rural households, respectively. Among those households neither having a source of drinking water on the premises nor having water delivered, the majority are within 30 minutes or less in round trip time of obtaining it. During the dry season only 6 percent of households are 30 minutes or longer away from a source, and during the rainy season that number drops to just 2 percent requiring 30 minutes or more.
Table 2.6 Household drinking water
Percent distribution of households and de jure population by source of drinking water, time to obtain drinking water, and treatment of drinking water, according to residence, Cambodia 2014
Households Population
Characteristic Urban Rural Total Urban Rural Total Source of drinking water during dry
season
Improved source 95.0 60.1 65.2 95.1 58.8 64.5
Piped water into dwelling/yard/plot 51.7 5.7 12.3 54.0 5.7 13.3 Public tap/standpipe 1.8 0.5 0.7 1.9 0.5 0.8 Tube well or borehole 7.7 31.1 27.8 7.2 30.0 26.4 Protected dug well 1.4 4.0 3.6 1.4 4.2 3.8 Protected spring 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.3 0.3 Rainwater 5.5 10.1 9.4 4.9 9.6 8.9 Bottled water 26.7 8.4 11.0 25.7 8.4 11.1
Non-improved source 4.9 39.8 34.8 4.7 41.2 35.4
Unprotected dug well 1.6 13.4 11.7 1.5 13.8 11.9 Unprotected spring 0.1 1.3 1.1 0.1 1.3 1.1 Tanker truck/cart with small tank 1.6 3.9 3.6 1.6 3.9 3.6 Surface water 1.6 21.2 18.4 1.4 22.2 18.9
Other 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.0 0.0
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Time to obtain drinking water
(round trip) Source of drinking water during
rainy season
Improved source 97.6 81.4 83.7 97.5 80.6 83.3
Piped water into dwelling/yard/plot 49.9 4.7 11.2 51.9 4.6 12.1 Public tap/standpipe 1.6 0.5 0.7 1.7 0.5 0.7 Tube well or borehole 6.7 25.4 22.7 6.2 24.1 21.3 Protected dug well 1.2 2.8 2.5 1.2 2.9 2.6 Protected spring 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.2 0.2 Rainwater 13.4 40.8 36.9 12.7 41.4 36.9 Bottled water 24.7 7.0 9.6 23.6 6.9 9.5
Non-improved source 2.3 18.5 16.2 2.3 19.3 16.6
Unprotected dug well 1.1 9.3 8.1 1.1 9.5 8.2 Unprotected spring 0.0 0.7 0.6 0.0 0.8 0.7 Tanker truck/cart with small tank 0.6 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.9 0.8 Surface water 0.6 7.7 6.6 0.6 8.1 6.9
Other 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.0
Missing 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.1
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Time to obtain drinking water
(round trip) during rainy season
Water on premises 73.7 74.9 74.8 74.7 75.2 75.1
within dry and rainy season 91.5 67.3 70.8 91.7 66.2 70.2
Water treatment prior to drinking1
Boiled 56.7 54.9 55.1 56.6 54.4 54.7 Bleach/chlorine added 0.1 0.3 0.2 0.0 0.3 0.2 Strained through cloth 0.3 0.7 0.6 0.3 0.7 0.6 Ceramic, sand, or other filter 15.9 16.7 16.6 17.0 16.9 16.9 Solar disinfection 0.3 0.1 0.1 0.3 0.1 0.1 Stand and settle 0.7 5.3 4.7 0.7 5.3 4.6
Other 0.6 0.2 0.3 0.5 0.2 0.3
No treatment 30.4 30.8 30.8 29.9 31.4 31.2 Percentage using an appropriate
treatment method2 68.7 67.0 67.3 69.3 66.6 67.0 Number 2,284 13,541 15,825 11,469 61,489 72,958
1 Respondents may report multiple treatment methods, so the sum of treatment may exceed 100 percent.
2 Appropriate water treatment methods include boiling, bleaching, filtering, and solar disinfecting.
20 • Household Population and Housing Characteristics
Fifty-five percent of households boil their water prior to drinking. There is little variation between urban and rural areas in the proportion of households that boil their water prior to drinking. Seventeen percent of households use a ceramic, sand, or other type of filter to filter their water prior to drinking.
Among those that do not boil their water, the most common action is to do nothing to treat the water prior to drinking. Overall, 31 percent of households report that they do nothing to treat their drinking water before consuming it. Drinking water without prior treatment is equally likely among urban and rural households. However, the likelihood of drinking water without prior treatment is somewhat higher than in 2010.
2.3.2 Sanitation Facilities
A household’s toilet facility is classified as hygienic if it is used only by household members (is not shared by other households) and if the type of toilet effectively separates human waste from human contact. The types of facilities most likely to accomplish this are toilets that flush or pour flush into a piped sewer system, septic tank, or pit latrine; ventilated improved pit (VIP) latrines; pit latrines with a slab; and composting toilets. Households that share their toilet facility or do not effectively separate human waste from human contact are classified as unhygienic. These categories are those proposed by the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Program.
Table 2.7 Household sanitation facilities
Percent distribution of households and de jure population by type of toilet/latrine facilities, according to residence, Cambodia 2014
Households Population Type of toilet/latrine facility Urban Rural Total Urban Rural Total Improved, not shared facility
Flush/pour flush to piped sewer
system 37.4 0.7 6.0 38.8 0.7 6.7 Flush/pour flush to septic tank 45.2 37.2 38.4 45.7 38.6 39.7 Flush/pour flush to pit latrine 0.5 1.0 0.9 0.4 0.9 0.9 Ventilated improved pit (VIP) latrine 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Pit latrine with slab 0.1 0.5 0.5 0.1 0.6 0.5 Composting toilet 0.0 0.2 0.2 0.0 0.3 0.2 Total 83.2 39.7 46.0 85.0 41.2 48.1 Shared facility1
Flush/pour flush to piped sewer
system 2.3 0.2 0.5 1.8 0.2 0.5
Flush/pour flush to septic tank 6.1 8.7 8.3 5.5 8.3 7.9 Flush/pour flush to pit latrine 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.1 Ventilated improved pit (VIP) latrine 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Pit latrine with slab 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.1 Composting toilet 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Total 8.6 9.1 9.0 7.5 8.7 8.5
Non-improved facility
Flush/pour flush not to sewer/septic
tank/pit latrine 1.0 0.2 0.3 1.0 0.2 0.3 Pit latrine without slab/open pit 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.1
Bucket 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.1
Hanging toilet/hanging latrine 0.3 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.4 0.4 No facility/bush/field 6.9 50.4 44.1 6.2 49.3 42.5
Missing 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Total 8.2 51.2 45.0 7.6 50.1 43.4 Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Number 2,284 13,541 15,825 11,469 61,489 72,958
1 Facilities that would be considered improved if they were not shared by two or more households
Households vary greatly in access to hygienic facilities by urban and rural residence, as shown in Table 2.7. The majority of households in rural areas have no toilet facility, with half of households (50 percent) reporting no toilet facility and making use of fields or bush areas. This figure was reported among only 7 percent of urban households. Access to hygienic facilities has improved substantially, as the percentage of households which have no facilities declined from 57 percent in 2010 to 44 percent in 2014.
2.3.3 Hand Washing
Washing hands with water and soap before preparing and eating food and after leaving the toilet is a simple and inexpensive practice that protects against many diseases. During the survey, interviewers asked to see the place members of the household used for hand washing and observed whether water and soap or some other cleansing agent was available.
Table 2.8 shows that interviewers observed a place for hand washing in 85 percent of households—a significant increase from 66 percent observed in 2010. Eighty percent of these households had water and soap for hand washing, and 19 percent had water only. In urban areas, nearly all households (97 percent) had a place for hand washing, as compared with 83 percent of households in rural areas.
Ninety-four percent of urban households had soap and water available at a hand washing place, compared with only 77 percent of rural households. A higher percentage of households in rural areas than urban areas had water but no soap (22 percent versus 6 percent).
Among the provinces, interviewers observed a place for hand washing in only 42 percent of the households in Mondul Kiri/Ratanak Kiri and 55 percent of the households in Takeo. Among households where a place for hand washing was observed, the lowest proportions with soap and water were in Takeo (59 percent) and Kandal (60 percent). The proportion of households with a place for hand washing increases with increasing wealth, from 74 percent among households in the lowest quintile to 96 percent among those in the highest quintile. Thirty percent of households in the lowest wealth quintile have water but no soap, compared with only 6 percent of households in the highest quintile.
Table 2.8 Hand washing
Percentage of households in which the place most often used for washing hands was observed, and among households in which the place for hand washing was observed, percent distribution by availability of water, soap, and other cleansing agents, Cambodia 2014
Percentage of
Among households where place for hand washing was observed, percentage with:
Number of Battambang/Pailin 96.7 1,222 60.9 0.0 37.5 0.2 1.4 0.0 100.0 1,181 Kampot/Kep 90.2 762 70.4 0.0 29.0 0.4 0.2 0.0 100.0 687 Preah Sihanouk/Koh Kong 99.8 320 98.1 0.0 1.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 100.0 319 Preah Vihear/Stung Treng 96.1 361 88.7 0.0 11.2 0.1 0.0 0.0 100.0 346 Mondul Kiri/Ratanak Kiri 41.9 309 77.3 0.4 22.2 0.0 0.0 0.1 100.0 130 Wealth quintile
1 Soap includes soap or detergent in bar, liquid, powder, or paste form. This column includes households with soap and water only as well as those that had soap and water and another cleansing agent.
2 Cleansing agents other than soap include locally available materials such as ash, mud, or sand.
3 Includes households with soap only as well as those with soap and another cleansing agent
22 • Household Population and Housing Characteristics
2.3.4 Flooring Material and Cooking Arrangements
Table 2.9 presents the distribution of households by dwelling characteristics. Nearly all households in urban areas (97 percent) live in dwellings with electricity, whereas in rural areas only about half of households (49 percent) have electricity. Ceramic tiles are the most common type of flooring material in urban areas, and wood planks are the most common material in rural areas. Thirty-six percent of urban households live in dwellings with ceramic tiles, followed by 26 percent who live in dwellings with wood planks. In rural areas, approximately half of households live in dwellings with wood plank flooring, followed by one-quarter who live in dwellings with palm or bamboo flooring1. About two-thirds of rural households (66 percent) sleep together in one room, whereas only 42 percent of urban households do so. In urban areas, 57 percent of households use two or more rooms for sleeping.
Firewood is the most common source of fuel for cooking in rural areas, with 85 percent of rural households using firewood for this purpose. There is more variability in urban areas as to what is used for cooking fuel. Twenty-two percent of urban households use firewood, 59 percent use liquid petroleum gas, and 16 percent use charcoal. Sixty-one percent of urban households and 37 percent of rural households report that they do their cooking in the house.
Table 2.9 Household characteristics
Percent distribution of households by housing characteristics and percentage of households using solid fuel for cooking, according to residence, Cambodia 2014
Households Population
Housing characteristic Urban Rural Total Urban Rural Total Electricity
Yes 96.9 49.2 56.1 97.3 49.8 57.1
No 3.1 50.8 43.9 2.7 50.2 42.8
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Flooring material
Earth, sand 3.1 9.2 8.3 2.9 8.7 7.8
Dung 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.0
Wood/planks 26.1 51.1 47.5 26.7 52.7 48.7 Palm/bamboo 3.7 23.6 20.7 3.5 22.7 19.8 Parquet or polished wood 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 Vinyl or asphalt strips 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 Ceramic tiles 35.6 5.3 9.6 35.3 5.5 10.1 Cement tiles 19.2 2.8 5.2 20.0 2.8 5.5
Cement 12.1 7.7 8.4 11.4 7.2 7.9
Floating house 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.2 0.2 Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Rooms used for sleeping
One 42.2 65.8 62.4 38.1 63.9 59.9 Two 27.4 23.8 24.3 27.5 24.7 25.2 Three or more 29.8 8.7 11.8 33.8 9.8 13.5
Missing 0.6 1.7 1.5 0.6 1.6 1.4
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Cooking fuel
Electricity 2.1 0.6 0.8 2.0 0.6 0.8
LPG/natural gas/biogas 58.8 7.7 15.0 59.0 7.2 15.2
Charcoal 16.3 6.5 7.9 16.3 6.5 8.0
Wood 22.1 84.6 75.6 22.3 85.2 75.4 Agricultural crop 0.0 0.3 0.2 0.0 0.3 0.2 Animal dung 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.1 No food cooked in household 0.7 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.1 0.1 Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Place for cooking
In the house 60.9 37.0 40.4 60.6 36.5 40.3 In a separate building 17.1 25.8 24.6 17.8 26.9 25.5 Outdoors 20.4 34.1 32.1 20.4 33.5 31.5 No food cooked in household 1.4 3.1 2.8 1.1 3.0 2.7
Other 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Number 2,284 13,541 15,825 13,753 75,030 88,783 LPG = Liquid petroleum gas
1 If there was more than one type of flooring, interviewers recorded the predominant flooring material.