Rural water 142 -39 Urban sanitation 49 29 Rural sanitation 51 -6A/45/327 English Page 23 III. PROSPECTS AND STRATEGY FOR THE 1990s A. wects to tU of the 75.As shown in table 2 above, the rate of progress achieved during the Decade would ),e insufficient to reach the ultimate objective of services for all by the end of the century, If programme implementation were to continue at the current rate, the number of those unserved with safe water by the year 2000 would decrease to around 767 million due to significant increases in coverage in rural areas, which would constitute a decrease from 31 per cent of the total population in 1990 to 16 psr cent by 2000. Those unserved with sanitation would rise to around 1,880 million, although the percentage of the population without services would decrease from 43 to 38 per cent due to a small decrease in the number of people in rural areas without coverage. The health anc¶ environmental consequences associated with these numbers of people without services would preclude the achievement of living conditions compatible with sustainable development. 76.The situation in urban areas, particularly jn large cities, could become alarming. The number of urban dwellers of developing countries in cities of five million people or more is expected to increase from an estimated 228 million in 1990 to an estimated 351 million by the year 2000. U/ The number of people in 31 cities in Africa is expected to increase by nearly 22.5 million within the next decade. Globally, the number of people in urban areas without adequate water supply facilities would increase by 83 per cent, and the number of dwellers without adequate sanitation services would increase by 68 per cent. In relative terms,
**Analysis**
The text discusses the prospects and strategy for the 1990s in terms of access to water and sanitation services, highlighting the alarming situation in urban areas and the health and environmental consequences of not achieving sustainable development. The focus is on the social and environmental aspects of development, rather than economic or industrial growth.

**Category**
Health, Natural resources and environment