How Much Does a Shower Cost Around the World?

For most of us in the United States, showers are such a common luxury, we hardly ever think about them. Elsewhere around the world, things are a little different.

In the infographic below, from High Tide Technologies, you can see how much a shower costs residents in countries around the world—from China and Argentina where it's only three cents, to Papua New Guinea where it’s $3.38 (calculating for a 17-gallon, 8.3-minute rinse). Those prices are based on a 2012 report from the International Water Association, and for residents in Papua New Guinea, that number means a shower costs about 70 percent of an average person’s daily income. In the United States, a shower costs around 16 cents.

In places like Ethiopia, the price of a shower is also paid in time: some residents—usually women—spend hours of their day traveling to get clean water to bring back home. Around the world, about 780 million people don’t have access to clean water at all.

To learn more, check out the infographic below. It’s a good reminder of the extravagance that is sanitary H2O, and might make you think twice about how you use this precious resource.

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